When Malaysian Lawyers Started Acting More Strongly for Justice and Human Rights In 2006, an incident took place that showed clearly that the time had come for the Bar and lawyers to engage in new forms of actions, BEYOND just the issuance of statements, or raising matters with meetings with Ministers or relevant authorities. Mr S. Balasubramaniam, a lawyer went to PJ Police Headquarters to provide legal assistance to his clients. His clients had been detained by police, denied access to lawyer and allegedly manhandled. Despite his repeated requests by his lawyer, the police refused to give the lawyer information about the reasons for the arrests. S. Balasubramaniam also alleged that he was physically pushed and unlawfully arrested and detained by a plainclothes policeman. He was released after three hours of detention without any reason being given for his arrest. This outrage led to fellow lawyers, who did approach the Bar Council demanding prompt action and p...