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Cops: PSM6 detained due to 'key role' in Bersih
Malaysia Kini - July 20, 2011
At a press conference called by PSM today in Kuala Lumpur, lawyer Edmund Bon (second from right) – who represents the PSM6 – revealed the contents of the affidavit.
It had been filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court yesterday by a police officer from the criminal investigation department of Bukit Aman federal police headquarters.
This was in reply to affidavits submitted by the family members of the PSM6 to support their habeas corpus application, which will be heard on Friday. The document clearly states the reasons for the detention of the six.
"...it was because I believed there were reasons (to show) that the six were involved as main movers of the illegal organisation Bersih which moved the coalition of Bersih 2.0, so the public will attend the Bersih 2.0 rally in Kuala Lumpur on July 2, 2011," said Kamarul Zaman Mamat, the police officer in charge of the detention.
Kamarul's affidavit also said the rally had to be prevented because it would create fear and anxiety among the public, as well as disrupt the daily life of society and harm public order.
To back his claim, the senior police officer said the first Bersih rally in November 2007 had caused havoc, damage to public property and harm to public order. De facto law minister Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz had earlier said they six are suspected of having acted to revive communism.
'Nazri lied'
Bon pointed out that the affidavit proves that Nazri's statement was a lie. "All these are lies because the police themselves have not mentioned a single word about communism, Chin Peng or all that kind of things (in the affidavit)," said the lawyer.
"The government used Bersih 2.0 as a convenient reason and used the six PSM detainees as scapegoats just to create a situation that seems to be like an emergency, to discourage people from coming (out) on July 9 (for the rally)."
He added that the reasons cited by Kamarul are repeated in the affidavits of other police officers, and that none of the 37 affidavits filed by the government mention anything about communism.
PSM secretary-general S Arutchelvan pointed out that Emergency Ordinance was enacted on May 16, 1969 to deal with public order and prevention of crime, rather than to curb communism, which falls under another draconian law – the Internal Security Act (ISA).
Two members of the Bersih 2.0 steering committee who were at the press conference denied the police allegation that the PSM6 were the main movers behind the NGO movement for clean and fair elections.
"This is wholly erroneous and without any factual foundation and substance. They have never been part of Bersih 2.0 movement, the steering committee or any part of the committee that moved the rally on July 9," said Haris Ibrahim.
His view was shared by P Subramaniam who slammed the police for not doing their homework. He said the police had failed to differentiate Bersih 2.0, a purely civil society movement, with the previous Bersih which had been led by both NGOs and political parties.
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