Groups to go head-to-head with Putrajaya on soup-kitchen ban
A coalition of concerned Malaysians has vowed to take on authorities who want vagrants off the streets of Kuala Lumpur as Putrajaya announced it will enforce the ruling after the Hari Raya festivities.
The coalition consisting of soup kitchens, NGOs and a lawyers’ group have said they were preparing to challenge provisions in the Destitute Persons Act 1977 (DPA 1977), which the authorities are planning to use to detain vagrants in an operation called Operasi Qaseh.
Lawyers for Liberty spokesperson Michelle Yesudas said it was working with the NGOs and soup kitchens and are preparing to provide legal help to the homeless.
"All along we have been defensive in handling this harassment against the homeless, but I think it is time for us to go on the offensive against all of these actions because no one has gone head-to-head with them (authorities) yet," Yesudas said today at a press conference.
She added that some homeless folks had expressed willingness to appear in court to testify because they wanted to see the issue being pushed forward.
Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor issued a ban last week, ordering soup kitchens to feed outside a 2km radius from the Lot 10 shopping centre.
But, Putrajaya today said it will delay the ban and only enforce it after Hari Raya.
Yesudas said the biggest issue with the DPA 1977 is that it allowed authorities to target people for being poor, criminalising them for their economic status.
Under the act, the authorities have the power to detain a homeless person and produce him orher in front of a magistrate before imprisoning them.
If the magistrate has reasons to believe that he or she is a destitute person, an order can be made to temporarily admit the person to a welfare home for one month, pending a report from the officer.
After which, if the magistrate is satisfied with the report, the order can be extended for a further period of three years.
"The way I interpret the Act, it seems very much like the Internal Security Act because the homeless are denied access to legal advice. It's almost like imprisonment," said Yesudas.
She described the act as being completely unconstitutional as it breaches Article 5 of the Federal Constitution, which provides the right to individual freedom, as well as international standards.
"What we are seeing here is a misuse of criminal administration because after they are captured under Ops Qaseh, they can be persecuted under other laws," she added.
A homeless senior citizen only known as Tan, who was present for the meeting with the ministries and authorities, said the government does not seem to understand the plight of the homeless.
"They should provide us with shelter, instead of constantly harassing and threatening us. We also do not like the fact that they are trying to decide our future for us," Tan said. – July 8, 2014.
