Bersih 3.0: Government's appeal over damages to public property dismissed

The Court of Appeal has dismissed the government's appeal in a civil suit it filed against Bersih steering committee over damages to public property incurred in the Bersih 3 rally in 2012.

In a unanimous decision, a three-man bench chaired by Justice Datuk Rohana Yusuf upheld the High Court decision which had rejected the government's suit for claim of damages.

She said the court did not find any provision in the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 that clearly stipulated the government's right to claim.

She said Section 6(2) of that Act did not create a statutory duty, which if violated, would necessary create a right of civil action by the government.

"We also find Section 3 of the Government Proceedings Act, read together with Section 39 of the same Act. does not entitle the government to sue for negligence or for a claim of damages under common law," she said.

Rohana said even if there was a right of claim in common law for negligence in that case, the court did not have reason to intervene in the High Court judge's finding that the government had failed to prove its case of negligence against the respondents based on evidence before him.

"The learned trial judge was in a better advantage than us, having had the benefit of hearing evidence in arriving at his conclusion," she added.

The government sued Bersih 2.0 steering committee, including its former Bersih co-chairman Datuk S. Ambiga and 14 other fellow committee members.

Justices Datuk Varghese George Varughese and Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Suan were the other judges presiding on the panel.

In its civil suit filed on May 15, 2012, the government claimed that the Bersih 3.0 rally on April 28, 2012 had caused damage to public property and sought special compensation of RM110,543.27 as costs to repair damaged police vehicles.

It also sought a declaration that the respondents as organisers of the rally had violated Section 6 (2)(g) of the PAA to ensure the gathering would not cause damage to public property.

The Court of Appeal panel today allowed the government's appeal partly in respect to the counter-claim brought by former steering committee member Wong Ching Huat.

The court (Court of Appeal) reduced the amount of damages from RM21,000 to RM15,000 awarded to Wong by the High Court.

It (the Court of Appeal) allowed damages for pain and suffering and aggravated damages but set aside the High Court decision to award RM6,000 to Wong for unlawful arrest and detention.

Outside the court, Ambiga said the Court of Appeal held that under the PAA, the government could not sue for the damages, adding that the decision was a landmark decision.