• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • RSS
  • Archives
  • Subscribe
The Nut Graph

The Nut Graph

Making Sense of Politics & Pop Culture

  • Projects
    • MP Watch
    • Found in Conversation
  • Current Issues
    • 6 Words
    • Commentary
    • Features
    • Found in Quotation
    • News
  • Columns
  • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Found in Malaysia
  • Multimedia
    • Audio
    • Pictures
    • Videos
  • Corrections
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Vault
    • Found in Translation

Police should apologise for mass arrests: MCA

By Gan Pei Ling

May 12, 2009

KUALA LUMPUR, 12 May 2009: The MCA wants Royal Malaysian Police to apologise for their hastiness in conducting the mass arrests of candlelight vigil participants and lawyers last week, despite the fact that they did not pose any threat to the police.

The party also wants the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Musa Hassan to take disciplinary action against those who ordered the mass arrests.

MCA Political Education Bureau chairperson Gan Ping Sieu said MCA was “appalled” by the haste in which police arrested those attending candlelight vigils for academician Wong Chin Huat, who was detained under the Sedition Act on 5 May. He was released on 8 May.

On 6 May, police arrested 14 people at a candlelight vigil in front of the Brickfields District Police Station, and another 20 were arrested the next day.

In a media statement, Gan said the arrest of five KL Legal Aid lawyers on 7 May was an “unlawful and blatant disregard of the rule of law.” The lawyers were detained by the police when they tried to gain access to 14 candlelight vigil supporters who were arrested earlier in the night. All those who were arrested were later released without charge.

“Lawyers are entitled to have free access to their clients in custody and should not be impeded by the authorities,” he said, adding that detainees have a right to legal representation as well.

“The IGP must hold an inquiry into this affair and to ascertain what valid reasons have been offered by the errant OCPD who authorised the arrest [of the lawyers],” said Gan.

He added that an apology from the police must be offered to restore public confidence in the police force.

He said the candlelight vigil was a peaceful assembly and the police could have asked the supporters to move aside if they were obstructing traffic or causing a public disturbance.

“Without any imminent physical threat to anyone, let alone to the police, the dispersion order and forcible manner of arrest would be construed as an abuse of police power,” Gan said.

He also noted that the police did not take any action when mob rule threatened the closure of seminars in the past.

The police action has also come under fire from the Malaysian Bar, which is holding an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on 15 May to protest against the arrest of the lawyers.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related Stories

Filed Under: News Tagged With: IGP Musa Hassan, Malaysian bar, MCA, police arrests, sedition act, Wong Chin Huat

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. john chan says

    May 12, 2009 at 3:09 pm

    Ha ha. A big disgrace to the country and shame, shame on them!

  2. ipoh_mali says

    May 12, 2009 at 3:32 pm

    The police are now so powerful and big-headed to the extent they forgot that we, (the laypeople/rakyat/public) are the very ones paying their salaries. Please don’t forget this important fact.

    To all government servants, please don’t forget that we are your pay masters.

  3. Pratamad says

    May 12, 2009 at 5:17 pm

    Would any of the MCA ministers bring the matter up for discussion in the Cabinet? What would MCA do if the minister in-charged, Hishamuddin, does not budge at all? As a ‘senior BN partner’ (but without teeth), what is your escalation plan?

Primary Sidebar

Search

Twitter

My Tweets

Recent Comments

  • Wave33 on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Adam on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Andre Lai on The Nut Graph stops publication

Recent News

  • The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Nasihat tentang sepupu yang mengganggu perasaan
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: The Sunni-Shia split and the answer to Muslim unity
  • Why Malaysia needs the national unity bills
  • Challenging government in the digital age: Lessons from Kidex
  • Najib’s failure
  • Babi, anjing, pondan: Jijik orang Islam Malaysia
  • Kidex and the law – What the government’s not telling you
  • Beyond Dyana Sofya
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: Does Malaysia need hate speech laws?

Tags

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Anwar Ibrahim Barisan Nasional BN Bukit Selambau by-election dap Deborah Loh Ding Jo-Ann Election Commission elections Found in Malaysia Found in Quotation Gan Pei Ling government high court Hishammuddin Hussein ISA islam Jacqueline Ann Surin Khairy Jamaluddin KW Mak Lim Guan Eng Malaysia MCA Menteri Besar MP Watch Muhyiddin Yassin muslim Najib Razak Pakatan Rakyat Parliament Parti Keadilan Rakyat pas Penang Perak PKR police politics prime minister Selangor Shanon Shah Umno Wong Chin Huat Zedeck Siew

Footer

  • About The Nut Graph
  • Who Are We?
  • Our Contributors
  • Past Contributors
  • Guest Contributors
  • Editorial Policy
  • Comments & Columns
  • Copyright Policy
  • Web Accessibility Policy
  • Privacy Policy
The Nut Graph

© 2023 The Nut Graph