http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/12/21/nation/12921454&sec=nation
Whistle-blower law necessary
BY A. LETCHUMANAN
KUALA LUMPUR: Legislation to protect whistle-blowers from prosecution for exposing human rights violations have become necessary, according to several opposition party leaders and NGOs.
At a roundtable conference in Parliament yesterday, a nine-member panel unanimously pledged support for Seputeh MP Teresa Kok who ran into a controversy for showing parliamentarians a video clip of a woman performing nude ear squats.
They also deplored the demands by certain senators for Kok and Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang to be referred to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee.
Besides Kok and Kit Siang, the other panellists were DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, PAS vice-president Mohamed Sabu, Women’s Joint Action Group on Gender Equality's Vizla Kumaresan, PAS Dewan Muslimat chief Azizah Mat Khatib, Hakam representative Amer Hamzah, Jemaah Islam Wanita chief Dr Halinah Halizah Siraj, and International Public Ethics Director Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim.
The discussion was organised by the DAP which claimed it had issued an invitation through a press statement for Government representatives to attend.
Mohamed Sabu and Kit Siang accused the Government of applying double standards where human rights of detainees under police custody were concerned.
Mohamad Sabu feared that Kok would become a victim like former Kota Melaka MP Guan Eng who was jailed for championing the rights of a Malay woman and Keadilan’s Ezam Mohd Noor for exposing corruption.
Amer and Dr Halinah said police should stop the practice of asking detainees to strip.
Tunku Aziz, who was also a member of the Royal Commission on the Police Force, said there was a need for an independent police complaints and misconduct commission.
