“certain quarters who are out to create trouble” - that is the quote from the IGP in his media interview on arrival at the KLIA. ( Errr, this IGP seems more like a politician; giving press interviews even on arrival from an overseas trip. Is he not a civil servant too and are they not subjected to certain do's and don't with regards to these kind of publicity??)
Anyway, the IGP was quoted as calling the 5 Lawyers as people who were out to create trouble - what trouble may I ask? These 5 YOUNG LAWYERS were there to carry out their professional duties; upholding basic human rights and the rule of law. They were standing and waiting patiently by the gate of the station for at least half an hour waiting for permission to enter the premises.
They were denied entry into the police station with the excuse that the Investigating Officer and the OCPD were at a meeting. I would have thought that at the very least these lawyers should have been invited in to the station, given a place to sit while waiting for the officers to finish their meeting. Instead they were made to stand by the road outside the police station. For this action alone, I think the PDRM owes the lawyers an apology!
Infact I would urge the National Union of Journalists to also lodge a formal complaint and protest that a Jounalist, carrying out his duty was also arrested that night. He has there to do his professional duty but was arrested. This was despite the fact that he had on his MEDIA tag on.
I witness all these as I WAS THERE that night. Infact I was there right up to 3:15am!
This whole incident could have been avoided right from the beginning. The group of around 30 young people sat down peacefully and quietly with their lighted candles in support of a friend who was arrested much earlier.
If the police and the OCPD in particular, had been more professional, all these arrests could have been easily avoided. The young people could have been allowed to carry-on the vigil and if they were properly informed and advised to end their vigil, they would have done so.
Instead, the OCPD chose to come out in full force (and infact not even in uniform) and told them to disperse immediately giving the vigilist no chance at all to even move away. The OCPD himself manhandled a female vigilists (which I also believe is not right) before handing the female vigilist to a female uniformed officer.
So when the OCPD did not respect the PDRM's own standard operating procedures in carryig out his duties - all kinds of problems started surfacing ending with the arrest of the lawyers. Now, in order to safe face and protect their A##%$s they start fire-fighting. We now see all kinds of remarks and quotes which just makes the whole issue worst.
The PDRM should just carry out their internal investigation; and based on eye witnesses accounts, suspend the OCPD - make a public apology and move on. Instead by prolonging the issue, we now have even calls for the Minister and IGP to resign;
Being there that night and following through all the events the eventually unfolded, I support the call to suspend the OCPD and the resignation of the IGP. Their action and words are nothing short of a disgrace to the already tarnished image of the Police DiRaja Malaysia.
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