KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 ― They started gathering at the Padang Merbok carpark from before 10am and by the time the Malaysian Bar Council's “Walk for Peace and Freedom” was slated to start, there was a crowd of about 200 lawyers and NGOs.
Malaysian Bar Council president Chris Leong told the crowd, “We are here to claim back democratic space. We are here to say as much as you try, you can't stifle speech. You can't stop expression of thought by thinking Malaysians.
“We are here this morning in the sun, in the car park, in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. We do this not for our friends, family but for the future generation of Malaysia.
“The Sedition Act is a law specifically designed to shut you up and we have seen the unprecedented use of this act in the last three months against, students, journalists, lawyers and academicians.
“We demand the government to abide by its pledge to repeal the Sedition Act.”
While waiting for the march to start, the energetic crowd changed “Mansuh Akta Hasutan” and “Hidup Malaysia.”
Various members of the Bar Council like Steven Thiru, Firdaus Husni, Syahredzan Johan, and Richard Wee took turns to address the crowd which grew to about 400 people.
MORE TO COME
