Amir Hadi and Mandeep Singh stood up to question the RM9 billion LCS scandal. Only one ship was delivered, but where did the rest go?
Instead of transparency, they were charged for organizing a peaceful protest. Mandeep’s charge was dropped, but Amir fought on - not just for himself, but for every Malaysian’s right to assemble.
After three years, justice won. The Federal Court, led by Tun Maimun, ruled Section 9 of the Peaceful Assembly Act unconstitutional.
Watch the full episode on all Sinar Daily platforms now.
00:00I fully agreed that the charge has to be dropped because I think that the Peaceful Assembly Act itself is an affront towards our right to assemble under federal constitution.
00:11But the question was that why is it that the charge against Mandit was dropped but the charge against Amey was not dropped.
00:17Well actually the case originated from a protest when Amey was still the Secretary General of Muda and it was done with Muda together.
00:25It was a protest called Mana Kapal LCS. If you guys remember the protest, it was to question the government of what happens to 9 billion ringgit cost of literal combat ship that was supposed to be delivered but that only satu kapal siap and the rest kapal tak siap.
00:40The question that we asked is Mana Kapal LCS. So the protest was done in front of Sogo.
00:44After that, two people were actually charged for the protest and that was Amey Hadi, also Mandit Singh.
00:53These two people were charged for organising the protest. Like already from the beginning, we were really angry with the charge itself because we were there peacefully assembling and questioning about Kapal LCS and this is not a small issue.
01:07This is about billions of ringgits of people's money. You are saying that this LCS is supposed to protect the country but it's not there.
01:14but no kinds of investigation has been done towards the people that we questioned but then charges were being made against Amey and Mandit who questioned the Kapal LCS.
01:27So that's number one.
01:28Number two, when he was being charged, it was charged under a Peaceful Assembly Act ataupun dalam bahasa Melayu Akta Perhimpunan Aman, specifically under this Section 9, where Section 9 ni dia menyatakan bahawa
01:40so if you want to organise a protest, you have to submit a notice at least five days before the protest was being done.
01:48So that was the charge that was made against him. But a couple of things happened that we were really unhappy.
01:54Number one was the fact that the actual perpetrators of Kapal LCS, one of them that we questioned during the protest is already the Deputy Prime Minister today.
02:02Number two is that in the midst of the charges, the charge against Mandit was being dropped, was dropped.
02:09After Pakatan Harapan got into power, Mandit is from DAP and the charge against him was dropped.
02:15I fully agreed that the charge has to be dropped because I think the Peaceful Assembly Act itself is an affront towards our right to assemble under Federal Constitution.
02:26But the question was that why is it that the charge against Mandit was dropped but the charge against Amey was not dropped.
02:32When the case wasn't dropped, then Amey himself made an, like, dalam mahkamah ni kita boleh buat macam, there's this proceeding where he can cabar the integrity of the section itself lah.
02:44So what happened in the Federal Court today was because Amey and his team of lawyers, they challenged the legality of Section 9.
02:55Ni sebagai, saya pun, Alhamdulillah, habis belajar undang-undang. So I can speak a little about this.
03:02So we have the highest law, which is the Federal Constitution, right?
03:05So dalam Federal Constitution, kita, kita ada hak-hak rakyat, which is the enshrined rights of the people.
03:12One of them is the right to peacefully assemble.
03:15So since Federal Constitution is the highest law, any law that was enacted that is ultra-virus or that is not aligned with the Federal Constitution is actually unconstitutional and should not be used at all.
03:30We question, Amey and also his lawyers question that Section 9 is ultra-virus or contradicting to Federal Constitution?
03:36Maknanya it's unconstitutional and shouldn't be used.
03:39After three years of battling in court, Alhamdulillah, this morning, Mahkamah Persekutuan, which is the Apex Court, Mahkamah Persekutuan ni mahkamah paling tinggi,
03:48under the lead of Yaman Arif Tengku Maimun and I am so happy that because today is her last day to be able to see that judgment.
03:56They decided that Amey's appeal is right and that Section 9 is indeed is not aligned with the Federal Constitution or is unconstitutional.
04:08And maknanya lepas ni, Section 9.5 tidak boleh digunakan lagi.
04:14So it has to be taken out from the Peaceful Assembly Act because the court says that it is unconstitutional.
