Putrajaya in 2012 sued former Bersih co-chair Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan and the group’s steering committee members for damages allegedly caused when a Kuala Lumpur rally went out of hand. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Seth Akmal, February 5, 2015.Putrajaya will appeal against the High Court's dismissal last week of the federal government's claims against electoral reforms group Bersih for damage to properties during its 2012 rally in Kuala Lumpur.Federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan today confirmed that the Attorney-General's Chambers would file a notice of appeal against last Friday's ruling delivered by Datuk John Louis O' Hara."We are going to the Court of Appeal and have 30 days to lodge the appeal," said Shamsul who is also head of the constitutional and administrative law unit in the civil division.Soon after the ruling, former Bersih co-chair Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan expressed hope that the government would not appeal since the High Court had applied the right law in coming to a decision.O'Hara, in dismissing the government's suit, said Putrajaya had been unable to prove on the balance of probability.In May 2012, Putrajaya took the unprecedented step of suing Ambiga and the group's steering committee members, as rally organisers, for damages of RM110,543.27.The plaintiff (government) charged that the defendants had failed to carry out their statutory responsibility when the assembly went out of control and turned into a riot, causing damage to vehicles, mostly belonging to the police.The government relied on Section 6(2)(G) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 which states that organisers must “ensure that the assembly will not endanger health or cause damage to property or the environment".But in June 2012, Ambiga filed a counter suit against Putrajaya, alleging that the government had breached her constitutional rights.Among others, the former Bar Council chair charged that the Peaceful Assembly Act was against the Federal Constitution, particularly Section 6 which she said restricted her right to freedom of assembly.O'Hara also allowed a claim for the unlawful arrest, detention and assault by police against Wong Chin Huat, a member of the steering committee, and awarded him RM21,000 in damages.The judge awarded Wong another RM30,000 in costs.He also dismissed Putrajaya's claim for a declaration that as organiser of the rally, Bersih must be held responsible for damage caused to public property, including police vehicles.The judge said the damages had taken place after Ambiga called off the rally and it was not shown whether the destruction was caused by legitimate participants of the rally or by independent agents."There was also the issue of the acts and omission of the police that invariably contributed to the damage for which the plaintiff now claims," he added. – February 5, 2015.
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