At
the Federal Court
An
extremely large presence of police greeted us in the morning as we got ready to
go about our business. There were about 20 police trucks, three water cannons
and other vehicles around the vicinity of the Federal Court and lower court
areas. In attendance too were police riders on horseback and policemen with
dogs. Once again the number of people
in the peaceful assembly was small (the other peaceful assembly referred to was
on 4 August, 2000). We estimate that there were about three police persons to
each person who was gathered outside the Federal court that morning. At about
nine in the morning the police were not allowing people to walk along the side
of the road where the Federal Court was. A Pemantau person was told explicitly
by police to cross the road and to stay on the other side of the road.
At
about 9:30am the police had moved their men with shields and batons right in
front of the Federal Court. No one was allowed outside the court. At the same
time the police on horses rode up and down the street a couple of times. Then
the police with dogs also walked their dogs up and down the street. Police
helicopters hovered over the area the whole of the morning.
We
have to say that their presence was to intimidate anyone who dared to be there
that morning.
About
a hundred to three hundred people gathered on the side of the river behind the
courts. For the most part they sat on the ground, sang songs, shouted slogans
and prayed for the country. The leaders of that gathering reminded the people
there to sit down and to stay together in one place. Some people made brief
speeches occasionally. The group was surrounded by police in uniform and
without all the time. The crowd was also waiting for Wan Azizah to turn up
after the judgement was passed.
There
were smaller groups gathered outside the waterfall area at the corner of Jalan
Tun Perak and Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. There were about 50-60 people on the
opposite side of the Federal Courts. This included members of the media. There
was another group that gathered in front of SOGO at about 3:30 pm. They shouted
slogans and dispersed at about 4:30pm when the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) asked
them to disperse.
Three
SUHAKAM members were at the scene and were still there during the arrests.
There
were approximately 30 NGO Pemantau on duty, stationed at several points in the
areas near the court and around the HongKong Shanghai Bank Corporation (HSBC)
area. Overall the police did not give
us any problems, with the exception of a few instances, which are mentioned
below.
We
note that today, most plainclothes police had their green vests on.
There
were two rounds of arrests. The first
one took place at approximately 9:30am, Malek Hussein was arrested by three
police officers at Jln Benteng. Tian
Chua was arrested soon after in front of the HSBC bank and was literally
carried away by the police officers. At
the time of arrest, the two had been asked by the police to move away. They said they had a right to be there and
were arrested subsequently. It seems to
us that the police specifically did not want these two men to be there.
The
second round of arrests took place at about 12:30pm after the sentencing of
Anwar Ibrahim.
At
the High Court, the police issued the warning to disperse and most people
gathered there left the Court area. The
police then walked from the High Court to the Benteng area where the police
issued the first warning to disperse.
Just as the crowd was standing up to leave, the police advanced. The people then sat down again. At this point the police repeated the
disperse order with very little time in between the first and second warning. They then moved in and began arresting
people. In total eight people have been
reported as arrested. Eyewitness
reports state that many more were arrested but released a little later.
According
to a NGO Pemantau member, several men and women were also hit by the police
with canes.
Specific incidences of
concern to us.
1.
At
the HSBC, while the crowd was being dispersed, NGO Pemantau members reported
that several police officers shouted at an elderly woman who was seated
there. According to eyewitnesses, she
had also been kicked by an officer. The police also chased the people into
buildings, and also chased people out of the bus stops.
2.
Two
NGO Pemantau members were harassed by plainclothes police. The first one was directed to hand over her
IC and also asked why she was taking pictures.
The second incidence was when another member was warned three times to
leave and warned not to think that just because she had the NGO Pemantau tag
that he would not arrest her and said that he would if she continued to be
there.
3.
Another
NGO Pemantau member who had just arrived at the HSBC area after the dispersal
casually mentioned the name of the officer who was shouting at various groups
of people to another member. When he
heard this, he turned around to her and said, “You people beat my boys” when it
was quite clear that this had not in fact happened.
4.
Eyewitness
reports also state that two of those who were arrested, Mona Suffian and Sabran
Hamzah had red marks on their faces.
The eyewitness had in fact seen Mona Suffian being slapped by the
police.
5.
We
note with concern the presence of police dogs and mounted police officers at
the Court area. We feel that this was
completely unnecessary and was used purely to frighten people.
Our Conclusions
We
believe that if the police remain a little patient we can have a peaceful
assembly in the country. As far as we can see people are quite willing to
listen even at times when they are upset as they were after hearing the verdict
and sentence imposed on Anwar Ibrahim. For four hours this morning we saw how a
peaceful assembly monitored by the police can actually take place.
We
want to reiterate that the police need not have turned in full force and have
water canons, dogs and horses. Worse than all this is to have so many police
persons armed with guns. Furthermore police officers must give crowds time to
disperse when they make orders for dispersing.
NGO Pemantau
(Monitoring)
NGO Pemantau is made up of members from the People's
Manifesto Initiative (PMI), which is a coalition of 12 organizations. The role
of the NGO Pemantau was to assist SUHAKAM (Human Rights Commission of Malaysia)
to monitor a people's assembly.
The objectives of the NGO Pemantau team are:
l To monitor a people's
assembly to ensure that people have a right to assemble peacefully as per the
Federal Constitution, Article 10 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
Article 20;
l To monitor any form of
violence which violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 19
(freedom of expression and opinion) and 20 (the right to assemble and
associate).
Organizations who are members of PMI are:
1.
Persatuan
Sahabat Wanita
2.
Persatuan
Masyarakat Selangor & Wilayah Persekutuan
3.
Women's
Candidacy Initiative (WCI)
4.
Majlis
Graduan Malaysia
5.
Pusat
Komunikasi Masyarakat (KOMAS)
6.
Jawatankuasa
Sokongan Peneroka Bandar
7.
Bosses
Group
8.
Ex-ISA
Detainees group
9.
ERA
Consumer
10.
Gabungan
Rumah Panjang
11.
Group
of Concerned Citizens
12.
Suara
Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM)
Members from some of the organizations mentioned
above and members from Pertubuhan Jemaah Islah Malaysia (JIM) joined the
Pemantau NGO in its monitoring work.
8
August, 2000