Report of the Pemantau Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) of the peaceful assembly of the people on 4 August, 2000

The first impression that we had when we arrived in the morning was that there was a very strong, visible police presence in the area around Dataran Merdeka.

The People who assembled peacefully

The number of people who gathered in various parts in and around Dataran Merdeka did not exceed a hundred people at any one time. They shouted slogans and some people made brief speeches. They obeyed all police instructions and dispersed peacefully. Our observers did not report any violent behavior, nor any resistance to police instructions. Our observation was that the crowd was peaceful and very self-controlled. They did not appear to have come to do anything more than show support for those who were appearing in the court that day. There were two cases held in separate courts, one for an illegal demonstration calling on the government to investigate the alleged arsenic poisoning of jailed deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim and the other for rallying in protest against the curb on PAS' organ, Harakah. The two offences were said to occur in from of Pasar Seni train station on Sept 11 and the National Mosque on Sept 19 last year.

Police Behavior

There was a large presence of police. At any one place with 10 persons at least eight were members of the police (uniformed and otherwise). The road in front of the Dataran Merdeka was closed in the morning. The police appeared to have outnumbered the demonstrations by almost one to two. Both uniformed and non-uniformed police persons flocked the area. In the background in the side streets there were FRU trucks, water-canon trucks and other police vehicles.

The water canon trucks traveled to and from on some streets on a number of occasions. There were also a helicopter flying overhead. All these movements took place when there was no “protest” activity and was a clear indication of intimidation. The police presence gave the impression that there was going to be a large and violent protest. In fact after the supporters had gone back the police still maintained their presence. This in our opinion only instills fear in the public who were there to exercise their right to support their friends, colleagues and partners in a struggle.

We attach with the report a chronology of events that show that the activities of the assembly consisted mainly of slogan-chanting in a few areas together with a few brief speeches by some people whose cases were being heard that day. Even when there appeared to be some gatherings that the police tried to disperse there was no resistance by the crowd. In fact even the people who made speeches asked the crowd to disperse and the crowd complied.

The police behaved in an unnecessarily intimidating manner on a few occasions. A police officer used a hailer and walked the length of the road in front of Dataran Merdeka shouting into a hailer asking people to disperse. He appeared to want to push the crowd physically away. This was not necessary because the crowd showed clear signs of dispersing when he first gave the order.

There was an incident where one person was asked to remove a party sticker from his car. We have recorded an incident where a policeman asked a person to follow him when a party membership card was seen in his possession.

We also received reports that there were massive traffic jams in Kuala Lumpur and Klang which were caused by the huge number of police road blocks in both these cities. We were informed that police searched vehicles especially if they were occupied by Malays. These reports were received from a broadcast journalist and eye-witnesses.

The sum effect of these actions by the police is one of intimidation and provocation. Why did the water-canon move around the streets where there were no groups of resisting protesters? Why did such large number of police personnel descend on the streets when there was no equivalent number of people in the assembly on the streets? Why was there a necessity to check vehicles especially if they were Malays? We like to say that we did not receive any reports of uniformed and non-uniformed police being assaulted.

The Arrests

The police arrested 7 people that morning. Mona Shofian was arrested when he came out of the side door of the magistrate’s court. He was heading towards Jalan Tun Perak. Police came after Tian Chua who was with Mona Shofian. They said something to Tian to which Shofian said, “Apa engkau nak buat?” The police then replied, “Tangkap awak lah.” They then pulled his shirt and there was a scuffle. After this he was arrested and hand-cuffed.

Gopalarishnan was heading towards a gathering of people on the road divider of Jalan Tun Perak. He shouted “Refomasi” while walking. Then he was arrested. Munawar was heading in the same direction as Gopalarisnan holding an Anwar poster. He was then arrested. Both he and Gopalarishnan were handcuffed together. Three women were arrested while they were distributing some leaflets.

The manner and reasons for arrests appeared unjustified in our eyes. There was no attempt by police to inform them about the reasons for the arrest nor any opportunity for them to reply. Further more, some of them were brutally dragged by their cuffs into the police trucks when they were not resisting arrest in any way.

One person from the NGO Pemantau team was harassed and told that he was being arrested. It was only after other members of the team verified that he was a member of the team that he was released. Yet the police still took down his name, address and other particulars. We take a serious view of this. The police should respect the NGO Pemantau team and differentiate them from those who were assembling to protest. Furthermore there was no need for the police to take down his personal particulars.

Our conclusions

The actions of the police is without justification for the following reasons:

l There was no sign of any violence or provocation from those who assembled today.

l Furthermore their numbers were very small. They were obedient to police instructions and did not show any signs of resistance to police.

NGO Pemantau (Monitoring)

NGO Pemantau is made up of members from SUARAM, a local human rights NGO, and 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 the situation on the 4 August, the judgement day of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy trial. As the judgement day was postponed the team had taken the initiative to still continue monitoring the situation.

The objectives of the NGO Pemantau are:

l To monitor the assembly on 4^th August, 2000 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 Jamaah Islah Malaysia (JIM) joined the Pemantau NGO in its monitoring work.

4^th August, 2000