Know your rights!

If you haven’t heard, 4 lawyers (or would be lawyers) were arrested by the police recently for distributing copies of the “Red Book”.

See the article by Malaysian Insider below.

Police see red over remand rights book
By Yow Hong Chieh
October 10, 2010

SRI PETALING, Oct 10 — Four legal aid volunteers trying to educate the public on their basic rights when faced with the police were themselves briefly detained today by police for distributing a book on remand rights.

Two lawyers and two chambering students from the Bar Council Legal Aid Centre (LAC) in Kuala Lumpur had been handing out the Bar Council’s “Red Book: Police and Your Basic Rights” to members of the public in Bukit Jalil here when they were arrested.

The four were taken to Sungei Besi district police headquarters at around 3.00pm for disseminating an “anti-police” publication, LAC KL chairman Ravinder Singh told The Malaysian Insider.

They were released some three hours later without charge. No statements were taken from them, and copies of the “Red Book” which had earlier been confiscated by the police were returned to them.

Ravinder said the Legal Aid Centre, an independent body under the Bar Council, was currently consulting its lawyers and would issue a statement soon.

The “Red Book” — launched in 2006 by de facto Law Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz — provides information on what to do when stopped, arrested or questioned by the police.

Legal Aid Centre volunteers handed out copies of the book in Sogo, Bintang Walk, Masjid Jamek and Bukit Jalil today to mark the start of National Law Awareness Week.

My Dad told me that during the The Communist Insurgency War in Malaysia, the police used to search premises for the “Red Book”. Those found with the “Red Book” are quickly whisked away by the police and never to be seen again. Apparently, this “Red Book” is the Little Red Book – a book filled with collection of quotations excerpted from Mao Zedong’s past speeches and publications.

A few people have asked me where they can download the Malaysian Bar’s Red Book. You can download the English version of the Red Book here and Malay version of the book here. You should print a copy and leave it in the car. 😛

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