arrest in penang – police double standard AGAIN!!!

continuation from my 2 earlier posts ‘anti ISA rally in penang – 4 arrested‘ and ‘7 still in police station‘.  read the update straight from the horse’s mouth – bk ong and stanleyf!  ong at his penang watch site with photos (eg this photo you see here, taken from there). stanley’s report later on below.

it is very disturbing to know that lau shu shi from suaram had not been released. the poor girl will be spending a night in the police lock-up! and for what? just because she was bold enough to tell off a police for being rude!!

that was the idea i get at first when reading from malaysiakini, this part:
(note: the full article from Malaysiakini can be read at my earlier post).

Lau had just came out from the Jalan Patani police station premise when an unidentified police officer raised his voice against her.When Lau told the officer to lower his voice and show respect to her, a shouting match ensued between them. She was then taken under the police custody for questioning.

see? the police was rude to her when he shouted at her! and for this the police wanted to charge her (and teh) for ‘causing a public nuisance’.

actually in the beginning, only 2 were arrested from the scene of the rally, i.e. bk ong and sathias, the blogger.  the other 5 were arrested inside the police station when they went there to show support for these 2 arrested, and also to lodge report against the police mishandling of the people at the rally.

from penang watch:

Even weirder: When the dispersed protestors heard about our arrests-they went to the Patani Rd police station to check out our conditions and to report the police’s mishandling of protestors. Then 2 more were arrested just when they stepped out the police station! And 3 more arrested at the 2nd floor of the police station when some others went up there to look for us. This lots of 7 arrests made a weird experience-but the police and the political power behind them will pay a heavy price when there are strong media and public pressures descend upon them-which seems likely in the next few days!

er…. what? but i also find something weird regarding the protestors (or rather only shu shi and teh). they should have known not to trust the police lah. how can like this… it was the police who mishandled them at the protest scene, then why they wanted to go to the police station to report these police who harassed them? surely the double standard police will not entertain them!

of course though the arrest of the 5 was very weird as ong pointed out and i too hope that the police and the political power behind them will pay a heavy price!! that’s why i email blogger and non blogger friends to ask them to spread this news. let everyone know that once again the police is so blatantly showing its double standard.

(remember to read the updated news from malaysiakini too)
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the following is stanley’s report:

The protest for the abolish ISA this morning turn out to be very rude. The protest started at 11am sharp with members from HINDRAF, SUARAM, GMI PENANG and other NGO groups. Before we even arrived at the scene, heavy police personals were seen around the area but none of them gave us any problem until a team of nearly 100 over police personals arrived at around 11.45am fully armed with batons, shields, guns, and teargas. The officer in charged ordered us to dispersed. We explained our rights to protest but we were denied our rights. Shortly just after that, We walked towards gurney plaza and decided to disperse as we were afraid of the safety of all our members there because the police might miss use their powers and abuse the people. around 20min after dispersing while i was talking with Ong from Penang Watch in the plaza area, Ong was approached by a police personal and arrested shortly after that. Just after that, i received information that an independent blogger had been arrested. He was filming the police act at the moment. Georgetown police chief ACP Azam Abd Hamid had claim that he was distributing flayers at the moment. That is a total lie and ridiculous statement. He was there covering the event for his blog and had nothing to do with HINDRAF or any other movement present.
 
Just after learning that two had been arrested, we decided to make a police report against PDRM for denying us our rights to assemble peacefully and disrupting our protest. When the police report was being lodge, a rude police Chief Ins Kamarudin of the patani road police station broke out an argument with Sushi who is from GMI Penang. He talked very rudely with her asking her to get out from the police station and stand out side. When she questioned her rights and asked for the police to be polite, she was immediately arrested. Teh hock from Suaram who was filming the argument was also arrested rudely in the police station with much struggle and force from the police. It was very clear to all who were present that it is a misuse of power and an abusive violation act of the Police. Shortly just after i made my report and when i was call in for questioning by Ins. Firdaus, i was also arrested together with two other friends. This is a scene where you can only see in Malaysia. You lodge report against police and they arrest you to scare you. They told me that i was being detained for attending a illegal assembly thus denying me my rights to a peaceful assembly and violating the federal constitution law. Again, you can only see this in Malaysia very often.`
 
We were kept for very long hours before our statements were taken. I denied giving any statement and told them that i would answer questions in court as i could not trust the integrity and fairness of PDRM. Lawyer Darshan Singh, PKR DUN Ravi and MP Liew Chin Tong (Tg Bungah, DAP) were at the police station negotiating. Five of us were released on police bail at about 8pm. But Sushi and teh were denied bail and will be produced in Penang Court Today 9am. They will be charged under section 90 of Police Act -for causing `public nuisance’ while the rest including me will have to be present at the Tg. Tokong Police station on the 26th of May to see what charges had they brought against us.
 
Well WAKE UP MALAYSIANS before it`s to late. This is Malaysia n a so called caring Federal government towards it`s citizens. P. Uthaya Kumar has not been taken to IJN yet despite heart problems and all the ISA detainees are suffering by the political abuse of UMNO. If we continue to keep our mouths shut, We will loose our rights completely.
 
Thank you all for your support and prayers when i was arrested. I will update you guys on the court hearing today, meanwhile u can log on the below websites for more info on the incident.
 
Thank you and God bless
 
K.Sudhagaran Stanley