A+ | A- | Reset
Home arrow The Blogs arrow Special Reports arrow Malaysia: Are the police being too brutal?

Malaysia: Are the police being too brutal? PDF Print
Posted by admin   
Tuesday, 18 November 2008 15:06

An anniversary rally was organised this year, not only to commemorate one of the biggest protest marches held in Malaysia, but to also celebrate the release of Raja Petra Kamaruddin (RPK), who had been held in detention without trial. What transpired that evening turned out to be much more than just a candlelight vigil that had been planned.

By Daniel Chandranayagam

Last year, on November 10th, 40,000 Malaysians attended the BERSIH Rally, the civil society coalition for a clean and fair elections. The coalition started out as a Joint Action Committee for Electoral Reform, formed in July 2005. Now, the coalition’s objective is to push for a thorough reform of the electoral process in Malaysia, including a freer and fairer press.

Bersih Rally 2007

According to a blog report:

Whatta day!! If you were expecting a cool “Walk for Justice”-type scene, you were in for a big surprise!! It was no walk in the park….

- 40,000 people
- 4000 Police - Dataran Merdeka was sealed off by a wall of Policemen.
- Police fired water cannons and tear gas at Masjid Jamek.
- Roadblocks on ALL roads leading into KL.
- 29 people arrested, 24 released
- The cops could not stop 40,000 people from marching from KL city centre to the Istana Negara to hand over the memorandum to the Agong [the King].

An anniversary rally was organised this year, not only to commemorate one of the biggest protest marches held in Malaysia, but to also celebrate the release of Raja Petra Kamaruddin (RPK), who had been held in detention without trial. What transpired that evening turned out to be much more than just a candlelight vigil that had been planned.

According to blogger Antares:

Got a call from a friend who said the cops had forced her to turn back at a roadblock, so she decided to go home… Polis patrol cars were cruising up & down and the crowd started walking slowly towards the PJ Civic Center. Decided to WALK WITH RPK (literally) and when I got to the Civic Center, the Red Helmets were already lined up and beating their shields to scare people. Polis sirens were wailing just for effect. It appeared they had been instructed to intimidate & terrorize the peaceful rakyat gathered there simply because we value democracy and love this nation too much to allow it to be turned into a pirates' lair by a bunch of Scumno scoundrels.

Apparently, there were roadblocks throughout Petaling Jaya, the suburbs on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. A vigil to free Raja Petra Kamaruddin had been held in a field in the suburbs every week since his detention. Since his release, the vigil was to be held together with the BERSIH one-year rally.

KKitSam says:

… i realized that the police had roadblocks all over PJ, blocking cars to the field in front of Amcorp Mall. I then parked my car near MBPJ building and walked there. Apparently the police didn’t stops me going there but i saw them questioning those who wore FREE RPK/I AM WITH RPK shirt.

Many had gathered at the field. Angela told us that the police had asked us to disperse because we didn’t have permit to gather at the PUBLIC PARK. The police also said we need to be at a closed area, not OPEN AREA. The turnout was very good, even with roadblocks closing all the roads for cars, a few hundreds managed to walk there and gathered in front of the Amcorp Mall at the car park. By 9pm, FRU [Federal Reserve Unit] has lined up and pushed the peoples into the mall.

News reports state that the crowd dispersed from the field to a nearby commercial area, where a popular multi-purpose hall, the Civics Centre, was located. At the Civic Centre, blogger and witness Chin Yau Chia wrote:

Reached Civic centre, greeted Marina, and the short ceremony begun. Both of us was standing outside the crowd. We heard Tony [Pua - Opposition MP present at the rally] said that if there's no BERSIH rally, he will probably not been elected. Then we started singing “Negara Ku” [Malaysia's national anthem], when we are about to finish, FRU charged us. It seems that they have specific targets. I saw them chasing after a young Indian guy, and got him finally. We quickly walked away as we are not able to help at that instance. A few FRUs passed us by, but they did nothing to us. Some plainclothes, one Chinese plainclothes, was shouting at us chasing us to leave the venue. So now I know, our Police force is used against the orderly people, people who are seeking for justice, not to combat crime.

The pandemonium appears to have occurred while a crowd of about 100 citizens were singing the national anthem. The police walked into the crowd to disperse them midway through the song. ICFJ trainee citizen journalism vloggers, Lesly Lee and Christine Chan, caught the following clip.

READ MORE HERE: http://globalvoicesonline.org/

Comments (9)Add Comment
...
written by michael chick, November 18, 2008 15:13:12
STOP TREATING MALAYSIANS LIKE DOGS !!!!

report abuse
disagree 1
agree 65
...
written by cheekymate, November 18, 2008 15:28:50
Those who treat others like dogs are no better than dogs themselves.
report abuse
disagree 1
agree 29
...
written by DreamLady, November 18, 2008 15:49:28
The police get their instruction from those above them, and those above them is none other than the UMNO goons who threaten the rakyat and at the same begging them to vote for UMNO/BN...and insane mind-boggling scheme that would backfire one fine day, just watch out !!!

The police will have to wake up soon enough from their fantazy of being the most powerful over the rakyat. The day will come when the police shall lick our feet as hell breaks lose in their faces......
report abuse
disagree 0
agree 13
...
written by marbl3s, November 18, 2008 17:51:30
I strongly believe that the minimum qualification needed to be a police needs to be reviewed.

The selection for police force is crap. 10 reps of sit-ups and 10 reps of push ups for physical. Right after that its down to selection. Even a fat ass would pass that test. Best of all, qualification doesn't matter. What you need is to make sure you're a malay.

5 chinese attended, 0 got rejected. All the crap about wanting to increase the number of non-malays in the police force is just plain talking.
report abuse
disagree 0
agree 8
...
written by ylcc, November 18, 2008 21:01:33
Firstly, what is the minimum qualification of our police force? Secondly, normal police is enough to control an orderly group - why the FRUs who specialise mainly in riots and more serious situations? Of course, they have specific targets (instructed from above). Brutal is an understatement. Watch the Cheras tape ... it is called "legal rioting" by the FRUs ... one would think they will only stop when the person is dead. Why the intense hatred and sadistic violence? Why do they tell blatant lies, without any fear? What have they been taught at the academy? Who are these "legalised thugs" working for? Those are the questions you should be analysing.
report abuse
disagree 0
agree 8
...
written by budakindia, November 18, 2008 22:00:50
The definition of minimal force is broken bones, head or as long as the person is still breathing. That's the minimum force used by the police according to them. I was just wondering what will be the maximum force? Slaughtering? De-skinning? or outright cannibalism? Since they are paid very low and they don't have the chance of hunting ? Maybe they resorted to cannibalism to get their meat maybe? smilies/cheesy.gif They have been leeches for many many years already, so why not cannibalism too? smilies/wink.gif
report abuse
disagree 0
agree 3
...
written by SocratesI, November 18, 2008 22:18:10

When the Anjing confront the Rakyat, they are Brjutally 'brave' !!
When the Anjing meet with real crooks, they run with tail between their legs !
When the Anjing takes orders from their masters, they lick and demean themselves.
When the Anjing carries out the orders, they are ruthlessly meticulous as it is much safer than doing their duty catching criminals and protecting the Rakyat !!

That is our Anjing D-Raja M'sia in a pretty tight & small nutshell !! What a bunch of LOSERS, and @RSELICKERS !! Spit on them ! Ptui !!

report abuse
disagree 0
agree 12
...
written by Fart Fart Wah, November 19, 2008 01:28:34
no no NO no NO nO ..THEY ARE NOT BRUTAL..

THEY ARE GIVING YOU A FREE BODY MASSAGE...GOOD FOR BLOOD CIRCULATION AS IT FLOWS OUT....AND A BLACK EYE TO IMPROVE YOUR EYESIGHT...

OH HOW KIND AND GENTLE ARE OUR MALAYSIAN POLICE....iF I WAS A WOMAN I WOULD LIKE TO MARRY ALL OF THEM...AAAAH!!THE MASSAGE!!!!
report abuse
disagree 0
agree 3
...
written by batsman, November 20, 2008 16:48:30
In Britain it has been revealed that some policemen are members of the BNP. Are Malaysian policemen members of anything?
Police officers among BNP members listed on web | Politics | The Guardian
report abuse
disagree 0
agree 0

Write comment
This content has been locked. You can no longer post any comment.
You must be logged in to a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.

busy
 
< Prev   Next >
 

Sponsored Links

World Futures  Moscow's Middle East conference: Should the Muslims depend only on the US to solve the Palestine crisis?

Future Fastforward  A controversial analysis by a controversial analyst, Matthias Chang, the lawyer-writer who unabashedly calls a spade a spade and offers no apology for doing so.

Internet TV 3000+ Channels  Pick your favorite internet TV channels straight to your PC! Yay!

Some Images Hosted With
Thank You ImageShack!
 BLOGGERS AGAINST ISA

Powered and Optimized for:
Malaysia Today by MT-TEAM