May 1, 2012
Malaysian Bar Council: Police brutality worsens in Bersih 3.0
by Nigel Aw@http://www.malaysiakini.com
The Malaysian Bar Council in its interim report today said Police brutality against protesters during BERSIH 3.0 last Saturday had worsened despite several Police shortcomings that were highlighted during the last BERSIH rally.
“Of all the problems that were highlighted last year, as far as the use of force is concerned, this year it has magnified.
So far as Police brutality goes, we have observed more police brutality (this time), so far as indiscriminate and arbitrary use of water cannon and tear gas, our observers saw far more (instances),” said Bar Council President Lim Chee Wee (right).
The interim report is a preliminary compilation of reports from 78 of the council’s volunteer observers positioned at six locations on the ground during BERSIH 3.0 on April 28.
Among the observations made by the Bar Council were:
- Rally was peaceful until around 3pm when Police fired teargas and water cannon.
- Use of force by police without any obvious provocation or cause, was far worse, indiscriminate, disproportionate and excessive.
- Police brutality was more widespread.
- There was concerted effort by police to prevent and stop any recording of their conduct.
- Police fired tear gas directly at the crowd in a way to box in participants rather than to disperse.
- There was retaliatory behaviour exhibited by rally participants against police wrongful use of force.
- Police were observed taunting and mocking the crowd.
- Police responded, stooped when participants threw items at them.
- Police personnel failed to display identification numbers on uniform.
Lessons not learnt
The Police, Lim said, had failed to learn from the past lessons despite having acknowledged that during the last BERSIH, on which Suhakam’s inquiry is still in progress.
“It is incomprehensible, if not a reflection of sheer incompetence or arrogance of the Police Force that it has not learnt from its past mistakes in the management of assemblies of people exercising their constitutional rights,” he said.
Even though protesters had breached the barricade at Dataran Merdeka, Lim said Police had responded with disproportionate force that went against international standards.
This includes the five stages in the use of force as recommended by Suhakam: it begins with verbal persuasion, followed by unarmed physical force, force using non-lethal weapons, force using impact weapons and deadly force.
Observers from the Bar Council too were harassed on top of journalists and members of the public being roughed up.
“It was unfortunate that the Police refused to give us recognition as official monitors (during the 
rally this time),” said Lim.The interim report was released in response to what Lim said was the absence of debate on the police use of force in terms of acceptable international standards.
Adding on, Bar Council Deputy President Christopher Leong said the Police action of confiscating recordings from the media was inconsistent with police assertion that it had done no wrong and had nothing to hide.
Leong, who stood some 200 metres away from the barricade and was tear-gassed twice, said the Police had failed to strike a balance between national security and human rights.
“What will be the worst consequence if the crowd breaks through the Police barrier? The consequence will be about 100,000 people gathering on Dataran Merdeka and sitting there for another hour. It is not like they were trying to storm a sensitive government facility or a military installation, so where is the balance?” he asked.
Related articles
- Bouquet of barbed wire for Dataran Merdeka (dinmerican.wordpress.com)
- Reuters: Najib Razak may still call elections as early as June (dinmerican.wordpress.com)
- Najib’s Reaction to BERSIH3.0 Rally: The Police were Victims! (dinmerican.wordpress.com)
- ‘Dataran barrier breach no excuse for use of force’ (hornbillunleashed.wordpress.com)
- Bersih 3.0: BN accountable for police brutality (hornbillunleashed.wordpress.com)
Citizens , by and large, conditioned to be subservient and numbed of their human rights and civil liebrties will be distracted from seeing the broader principle of the inalienable rights of citizens to assemble peacfully to express their consitutional right to dissent. At a broader level the participants of Bersih 3 did no wrong by any count, even if they had stormed the unlawful barricade. No apology from Bersih 3 should come forth, for they did no wrong. Using tear gas and chemically laced water jets on unharmed public is brutully cruel and despotic Najib and all those involved UMNOMelyayus and their lackeys deserve to be called barabarians, not fit to live amongst civilised citizens. Shame on you and your type Najib.
“..a sensitive government facility or a military installation,”
Ahhh.., you don’t get it do you? It’s doesn’t matter where the ‘prohibited’ place is as long as it is sanctified by UMNO. It could have been a cowshed, pit latrine or whatever. So long it’s deemed their turf, it’s theirs. Remember their aphorism: ‘What is mine is mine; what is yours is also mine!’
Siege mentality is the most dangerous form of offensive-defense and they let their mutts out to do the maximum damage. So that they could continue to intimidate and dominate. They enticed, provoked, taunted and brutalized so that these forms of ‘Insult’ and ‘heresy’ will never happen again – at least in the short term.
From my perspective, the tables were turned by 4.30-5.00 pm when pitched battles started with the recalcitrant die-hard protesters who had much experience with their methods. They’d bullied and disgustingly fired into the innocents in places they could hurt as many as possible – including Masjid Jamek and the LRT stations, but were afraid to go into the backstreets, lest they would be caught in ambushes. I overheard someone commenting in the background near Sultan-Petaling junction, that the Tiger Generals had ordered taking of scalps, should the pursuit extend beyond the stipulated boundaries. Perhaps that’s why there were more injuries to the Goons than expected, from a rather tame, lame, unarmed opposition. In fact, for the battle to last until 7.30pm was beyond my wildest estimate. So what gives?
What I did not understand was, being well-prepared and in control, the police still resorted to doing some things that I consider cruel. One was throwing several canisters of tear gas at an enclosed area like the Masjid Jamek LRT Station when the station was full of people who just wanted to catch the next train to go home and two, beating up some people who sought refuge within the compound of Masjid india, dragged and beat them and these are people who did not even resist arrest or were seen to be troublemakers!
In my training on handling weapons and other equipment and items such as tear gas, to be an army officer many years ago, we were told never to throw them or use them in enclosed areas. Tear gas are meant to disperse crowds in a crowd control situation and when the police at BERSIH 3.0 threw several canisters inside Masjid Jamek LRT Station, an enclosed area which was filled up to the brim, last Saturday afternoon, how do they expect the crowd in there to disperse?
Were the police trying to kill people?
Breaching the barricades does not constitutes violence. Not even a single ant was harmed on that day because of the removal of the barricades. The police reaction was barbaric and unconscionable; this proves that it was preplanned to happen this way. On that day the police has breached a number of conventions of proper civil behaviour. The most glaring breach of decency was the holding to hostage of the symbol of freedom and independence: the Merdeka Square. Merdeka Square on that day was turned into an ugly fortress with rows and rows of razor-shaped barbed wire strangulating it, and companies of uniformed, boot-straping occupiers with their menacing instruments of oppression on the ready. When the full fury of violence was unleashed it was monopolized by these barbaric human dogs. They target everyone: photographers, reporters, monitors, the elderly, the youngsters, the innocents, the stray cats and dogs and even rats. This madness exposed the lies that these hooligans were the victims. Armed men the victims against unarmed civilians the aggressors? Who in this world would believe such fantasy except in Bolehland?
Sorry to hear about your trials, Hak. Yes, they were out to hurt and brutalize. Imagine.., even the mosque was not spared. You were in the wrong place and time.
As i said, they were intimidating and spreading fear through the chaos of their making. Next time, if there is one – hobble towards Petaling Street or further into Lebuh Ampang. Never into Jln TAR. You’d be safer there. In times like these, we look after our own – no matter what race, religion, creed or other parameters the goons want to establish. Some of my non Malay kaki’s were trapped in the Masjid and protected by the congregation. Kudos to them. Me? Strolling around Madras lane. Got out before 3.30pm. Didn’t even bother with photos. Old ducks like us shouldn’t be in the fore-front – can’t run anymore. Btw, 1 tsp baking soda (bicarb) into a 1 liter of normal saline better. Btw, throw away all the stinky clothes.
Cheers.
” …. beating up some people who sought refuge within the compound of Masjid india, dragged and beat them and these are people who did not even resist arrest or were seen to be troublemakers!” — hak55
When you are being assaulted you have the right to self-defense. If deadly force is being used against you, you can respond with deadly force. The kind of beating these guys were getting were unprovoked and had nothing to do with the maintenance of public order. Their acts are just plain assaults.
You should lure some of these guys into the back streets and beat them up.
Like CLF said the police are afraid to go into Petaling Street and Jalan Sultan lest they meet up with Loong Foo Tong tiger generals who can make the police disappear and never be seen again.
I guess it will play on the conscience of the policemen for a long time, beating up one of their own, who knows the person they beat up may be one of their family members. Wait till they reach 55 and have to retire from the force, they be an outcast.
No, you just have to lure them into the backstreets and because you are about to faint, leave it up to others. Old Mr Fung Wong was grinding his ax and his side-kick, Mr Tai Wok was heating up kerosene. Crazy flurs. When i asked them what in tarnation they were doing – they said ‘just in case’ and grinned through their toothless maws. They were my ex-school acquaintances. Hak should meet them. There’s honor even among these, who won’t tolerate the beating of innocents, women, children and old folks.
So much for our Polis/FRU, who were probably recently rotated into KL. Mengikut perintah, without a shred of conscience.
By now we should know that our police force is trigger happy. Will Hisham say that throwing tear gas in enclosed spaces part of the standard operating procedures?
Many Bersih 3.0 participants on the run in streets of KL found that they had problems using their phones, no lines.
Did you know that they carted jammers onto 4WD and parked them along strategic areas to be effective to jam handphones?
The BBC and Aljazeera experienced news censorship, one of the many cases of info suppression and destruction of their media hardware. That’s how evil and brutal those BN desperados have become. They aren’t going off that easily without a fight, a dirty fight! Watch out GE-13, …over dead bodies, remember najis swore to it?
We must remember the principles of Gandhian non-violent resistance
in the face of regime violence.
If one responds with violence, one loses moral authority and loses in the battle for public opinion. And the regime will use this to score propaganda points against you.Thus despotic regimes always try to use “agents provocateur” to provoke violence in non-violent demonstrators.
In the US civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, the world witnessed the violence of the authorities i.e. fire hoses, police dogs, beatings etc. The authorities discredited themselves when they used violence on non-violent demonstrators.
Another important point is that the rest of Malaysia and the world must KNOW about this regime violence. And this is made much easier by the latest technology such as the Internet and You Tube.This was demonstrated by the Tung Shin Hospital incident from Bersih 2.0
“Another member of the group, prominent Indian journalist, the India Today editorial director Mobashar Jawed Akbar, who was also a one time member of parliament, referring to the violence in the rally, said:
“The crowd had been building up overnight; they had ample time to be violent if they wanted to. There was no sense of violence whatsoever. In fact, It was a festive and celebratory experience of the people, very peaceful, until the very end when …….”
Referring to the press coverage the next day (April 29) that highlighted only the violent conduct of the protesters, Akbar believed that the violence was a deliberate police provocation, based on his experience as a journalist and politician. He said:
“One of the oldest trick is to provoke the victim, in order to blame the victim. I do believe that, after observing the rally for five to six hours, the provocation was perhaps done in order to create images that will play well in the official media”.
http://malaysiakini.tv/video/23849/malaysian-ec-is-backward-opines-fact-finding-group.html
“The protesters were the hooligans..” the rock
Hooligans? Haha.., you mean like soccer hooligans? Far from it.
All simpletons like me understand is that the Polis are law-enforcement officers. They are to uphold the Law to prevent trespass into a patch of grass deemed sacred by their Lembek Taikors. The are supposed to be professionals. Rampaging through the streets, brutal walloping and violent arrests of peaceful demonstrators, who didn’t even breach the barricade are signs of ‘corrective’ measures gone awry and uncontrollable emotionalism that belies the unprofessional attitudes of true hooligans. Polis over-reaction and brutality in crowd control is the crux of the issue.
If the Polis cannot maintain their ‘cool’ and demeanor in the face of ‘taunts’, it is better that they let the Loong-Foo-Tong, Sap-Pat-Cai, 36 and 108 flurs do the ‘policing during’ such rallies. They will even do it without truncheons, firearms, tear gas and water cannons. Nowadays, they are multiracial. Normally, they will call for round-table talks with the organizers and the Amal chiefs to allay any mis-communication and lay simple ground rules. They’ll respect religious institutions and buildings.They are known to deal with Mat Rempits most effectively by drugging them to Oblivion. Any altercation will be dealt with swiftly and locally, without distress to the whole.
Futhermore, there should be a budget from PMO for such outsourcing, as there are for all those useless foreign PR firms trying to bolster the irredeemable lembek image of the slogan spewing personalities
Any questions?
If the Polis cannot maintain their ‘cool’ and demeanor in the face of ‘taunts’, it is better that they let the Loong-Foo-Tong, Sap-Pat-Cai, 36 and 108 flurs do the ‘policing during’ such rallies. -CLF
thats already happening in residential areas. the sheer inefficiency or absence of the ‘law enforcers’ had already forced residents to find an alternative to the 1polis. are the 21 and 08 still alive? yes, those were the days.
its a shame that people were beaten up and abused by our polis and that fucking idiot says the polis are the victims. it looks like he’ll not recognise reality even if he trips over it. we need someone with a backbone to lead the nation.
Sadly the video played for us by Ambassador Malott is reminiscent of the Rodney King beating back in ’92. It sparked off riots which engulfed that neighborhood of LA (our semper fi’s neck of the woods) in flames for a good six days ending in 53 deaths, 2,383 injuries, more than 7,000 fires, damages to 3,100 businesses, and nearly $1 billion in financial losses.
But in the Rodney King’s beating two police officers though freed by the state court were later convicted by the federal court and spent jail time. Do you guys think this guy in that video will see justice?
Yup, 21 is still alive, but the ones i know are retired businessmen and boiling kerosene. I think they still hold on to the Code, but didn’t ask.18 & 108 sort of thinned out nowadays quite limited in ‘scope’ and area. Nowadays different numbers la, some predominantly under Indian and Malay TGs. Btw, do you know where LFT (21) operates in, rocky? Chinatown. We shall not go into 0513, ‘cuz that is history, but 108 & 36 were the ones in the field of operations. Yup, stopped by the RMR and later Rangers and Signals. Can you Imagine what would have happened if they withdrew RMR and left the city open without replacements? I can’t.
Police brutality should be condemned wherever they occur.
Hey reeper, i actually tabek the normal mata-mata fellas. Despite their inefficiency and proneness to cari makan, they are actually quite hard pressed. I’ve seen some of them work for 36 hrs at a stretch, chasing shadows, rapists and drunkards. Sometimes they shoot each other, like what happened in the Kedah palace a few days ago. There are black-sheep in any organization – unfortunately they are mostly at the higher ranks.
The present IGP would be much better than his predecessor, if he didn’t supplicate (Bendover Singh style), so much to his political masters. But then, he’s not cepat, cekap dan berani according to his predecessor. How la to improve things?
Suddenly government officials overseas are interested in the names and pictures of those who participated for the Bersih Global rallies. What on earth do they plan to do with us???
Didi,
They confiscate your passport when you return to Malaysia or they refuse to renew your passport and instead issue you a Certificate of Identity thereby ensuring you a one way ticket to Malaysia.