CONCERNS

1. My colleague, William Chow and I  were walking to work along Brick Kiln Road (Jalan Gurdwara) when we were stopped by two men at 8.30am on 4 May 2001, next to the newspaper stand directly across the road from the Sikh Gurdwara temple. They demanded to see our identity cards.

2. When we politely asked who they were and why they wanted to see our ICs, they flashed us their IDs but it happened so quickly we could not see the names. We were also not in a position to determine if the IDs were genuine. When we asked politely why they needed to see our ICs, they started shouting and threatening us with arrest. The first policeman also showed us a pair of handcuffs and the second policeman showed us a gun. The policeman who showed us a gun also uttered an obscenity. The two of them were shouting at us very loudly all the time in full view of the public.

3. Because we did not want to cause further commotion, we showed them our ICs. The policemen then took possession of our ICs and refused to return them to us even when we asked back for it. Under threat of being handcuffed in full view of the public, they forced us to sit on their motorbikes, with NO helmet for us and sped off to the Jalan Patani police station via Jalan Kampong Jawa and Jalan Datuk Kramat. The policeman was driving very, very fast and when I, Razak, told him I was afraid I might fall off his motorbike, he replied that he didn't care if I fell off his motorbike in the middle of busy Jalan Datuk Kramat.
 

5. The policemen then took our wallets and bags and emptied everything on the floor. They did not find a single thing in our wallets or bags with which they could charge us with a felony. All these while, the two policemen kept abusing us verbally with derogatory and threatening remarks. One of them insulted the Malaysian monarchy with whom I, Razak am closely connected. The policemen in the room made repeated insinuations that we had done something criminal and should be taught a lesson.

6. There is a duty on a police officer to caution a person on arrest and any statement made by the latter without first being cautioned cannot be produced as evidence at his trial. Although it would seem that we were under arrest, we were not cautioned by any of the policemen.

8. The arrested person has a fundamental right under the Federal Constitution to be informed as soon as possible, in ordinary language, of the grounds of his arrest. The Federal Constitution also gives the arrested person a right to consult and be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice. We were not informed by the policemen, as soon as possible, why we were detained and handcuffed. We were also not allowed to contact a legal practitioner.

9. One of the policemen then brought in a typewriter and started typing something. He mentioned to us that he was filing a report against us. Some time later, the policeman brought in a plastic file holder containing a computer printed sheet of various crimes. Having found NONE that could correspond to what my colleague and I did, he then loudly suggested to his senior that we get charged with either enggan (reluctance to co-operate),  or menghalang (obstruction to justice) or even rusuhan (rioting). The longer the jail term the better he said. Maybe 4 years, better still 6 years. He made references that he was proud the police were so powerful they could even put the Deputy Prime Minister behind bars.

10. After he finished typing, he signed the report and took it away. We were not allowed to see what he had reported about us. At this point I, Razak asked a second time if I could make a phone call but was again denied.

12. During the telephone conversation between the policeman and our colleague, our colleague at PHT asked the policeman the following questions:
 i. the name of the person he was speaking to
 ii. who the investigating officers were, and
 iii. what our offences were
The policeman on the phone refused to identify himself to my colleague, and refused to answer any of the questions. Immediately after putting down the phone, we were told to quickly pack our things into our bags and wallets and we were taken to a third room where two men took down our particulars. We were then released with the warning that we have to ‘respect' the police in future.

This statutory declaration was made by Raja Abdul Razak bin Raja Musa and William Chow of the Penang Heritage Trust

*****     *****     *****
handcuffs, by courtesy of clipsahow.com 
police group, courtesy of Stine's

Readers will remember the experience of Ong Boon Keong and his friends of the SOS of several cramped days in the police lock up, reported in the September 2000 issue of this magazine. This story is about an arrest, a worrying affair, because it does raise some questions e.g. what sort of people are being recruited into the police force and what sort of training the PCs get. It used to involve the study of  elementary law. This incident makes us wonder what the raw recruit is taught nowadays. 

Surprisingly, in these modern times, the police have not got round to appointing a spokesman to handle public relations.  It is about time that there was such a unit to respond to situations as they arise and to maintain a public dialogue. Instead, the public is left with going through the red tape of "complaint and investigation" without the human touch. Meanwhile we await the results of the investigation by Penang Road and the CPO. This will show whether we are under a rule of law of or under the rule of lawlessness. #