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[KUALA LUMPUR, 16 March 2010] - The Bar Council has called on the government to stop its practice of detaining children without trial and thereby show that it obeys Malaysia's Child Act and honours its commitment to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
It also urged the Home Ministry to withdraw a recent order to place four youths under restricted residence for two years. The order was issued after the four minors - Jagendran Panir Selvam, 17, Gunaseelan Suppiah, 16, Pushpanathan Muniandy, 16 and Rajkumar Vijayan, 21 - had been been released from detention without trial under the Emergency Ordinance. The Child Act 2001 prohibits the detention without trial of minors. During their 60-day detention, the four youths were tortured physically and mentally, according to the human rights organisation Suaram. "The Bar Council's stand is very clear: all laws which allow for detention without trial in the country should be abolished immediately. This is especially so when it comes to the detention of minors and youths," said Edmund Bon, chairman of the council's Constitutional Law Committee. The four youths were arrested in Semenyih last December, allegedly for being public nuisances and keeping a stolen car in their possession. Bon said the Bar Council fully supported Suaram's call for the repeal of the Emergency Ordinance and the withdrawal of the restricted-residence order served on the youths. He said the government must free them immediately and charge them in open court under existing criminal laws. "Any minor or youth, if found to have committed an offence, should be charged in open court under existing criminal laws," he said. "They must not be detained without trial." Figures obtained in December 2009 showed that 819 persons were under detention without trial under the Emergency Ordinance. Further information