Pre-camp
I was sponsored by the Kuala
Lumpur Bar Committee (KLBC) for the Strategic Litigation Camp at Avillion
Resort, Port Dickson which was held from 18 - 21 August 2016 after having come
across the details on Facebook.
Prior to the camp, I was assigned
to a case study and a group of teammates with whom I worked together to prepare
for a moot during the camp. My teammates were Nadra, Yeo Heng Hau, Emily Chong
and Priscilla Chin. Emily kindly took on leadership of the team and set up a
WhatsApp group for the team to prepare for the camp.
We even met up at a cafe in PJ to
discuss the assignment which was based on the Bersih T-shirt Ban. During the
cafe meet-up, we got to know each other more and there was a fruitful
discussion.
The Camp
Day 1
We arrived at the Resort to be
briefed by the staff there on security issues as well as some ground rules.
Khairil, the Chairperson, encouraged all participants to speak their mind and
ideas in a respectful manner and not restrict others from sharing during the
sessions. The hall booked for the camp was designated a “safe place” for the
discussion of ideas and opinions and was a clear application of human rights
principles.
After that, there was a video screening
of a pressing local human rights issue which was raised by Aishah Tajuddin. Her
critics threatened bodily harm, amongst other things, in order to cow her into
silence. This led to a discussion concerning freedom of expression.
It struck me as important that
though we may disagree with the opinion of others, there is no need to silence
those opinions as the ensuing intellectual discourse will certainly benefit society.
The diverse views and a safe space which allows freedom of thought would
certainly enable society to view ideas from different perspectives.
Day 2
We presented the case assigned to
us before a panel of facilitators who guided and corrected us through our
submissions. We were very grateful with the frankness of the facilitators and
their feedback.
The submissions were followed by sessions
by Ms. Seh Lih on the introduction to strategic litigation and international
human rights standards. This was very informative and I wished that more time
was allocated for her sessions.
We were given reading material
prior to these sessions to aid understanding of the sessions’ content. A quiz
was also held to keep things interesting.
There was a sharing session involving the camp facilitators, some of whom have had experience in human rights work / advocacy in Malaysia. Each facilitator had a different experience and we got the opportunity to hear them first-hand. One facilitator, Syahredzan Johan, shared his experience when his friends were arrested in the performance of their duties as lawyers at the Brickfields police station. I was inspired by these stories.
Day 3
Syahredzan and Sherrie shared on
the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Federal Constitution as well as the
limitation of freedom of expression in Malaysia. The highlight of Day 3 for me
was the session on Human Rights Advocacy beyond litigation.
Our team was tasked with
attempting to raise awareness on the issues of unilateral conversion by a
single parent. We came up with different ideas but ultimately, it was decided
that video screening would be the most effective tool of advocacy for this
issue. Emily was our team’s representative and she shared on how to engage the
relevant authorities in order to prevent the abuse of unilateral conversions. This
session was an eye-opener in the sense that not all issues have to reach Court
in order to be resolved.
Day 4
Our final day at the camp saw us
presenting our cases before experienced lawyers such as Edmund Bon, Goh Siu Lin
and Aston Paiva. Despite knowing that our case was weak, we soldiered on with
whatever we picked up from the first moot session. The issue was actually the
subject of an appeal which Edmund Bon mentioned was coming up for hearing in
the Court of Appeal soon. We were all invited to attend the hearing. One member,
Priscilla Chin, did in fact attend the appeal in Putrajaya and kept us informed
of the outcome on WhatsApp.
Post-Camp
We have kept in touch after the
camp. Some of us are still unsure if strategic litigation is the way to go but
we are all sure that that we want justice to be done for a better Malaysia. The
camp is a blessing and I hope that more seniors will come forward to share
their knowledge and train more young lawyers to take up strategic litigation.