Candles broken into pieces during vigil for Jonah and Fuad outside police station

by our correspondent

Outside the Dang Wangi Police Station
8.45 pm, Thursday, 12 July 2001

July 12 marked the 7th day of the arrest of student leader Khairul Anwar Ahmad Zainud-din (Jonah) under the Internal Security Act (ISA) which allows for preventive detention without trial.

Jonah was arrested at the Dang Wangi (Jalan Stadium) police station on July 5 at about 9.45 am while accompanying six other students to the station. The six were arrested on June 8 but were released on police bail about 24 hours after their arrest. Police bail requires reporting to the police station periodically until such time when the police decide to release the person from bail or to have him or her charged for a crime.

The second candlelight vigil for Jonah and fellow detainee, M. Fuad M. Ikhwan this evening was rudely interrupted when some 40 police personnel comprising FRU police, plainclothes police (including females) and at least one in uniform (ASP Ng) rushed to those keeping vigil. They grabbed the candles off their hands and broke them into bits and pieces.

There were about 13 people who gathered at about 8.45 pm outside the Dang Wangi police station to commemorate the arrest of Jonah today.

One plainclothes police carried a loud-hailer but it was evident that his two superiors (they certainly acted as such) would have no need to use it. Both of them used the olde worlde police technique of shouting in your face.

One of the officers who broke all my candles (and hurt my hands in the process) was in plainclothes and shouted incessently about illegal assemblies in an attempt to confuse and scatter those keeping vigil, who were predominantly women. He refused to identify himself at my request.

I did tell him that I found it odd that he was carrying on like this without having the courtesy of introducing himself.

He said, “There is no need.”

I found it rude. I said so to ASP Ng whom I called Inspector.

The officer corrected me on that.

I asked him if he knew the plainclothes police officer and ASP Ng confirmed that the person was “my boss.”

At some point, my friends and I requested that ASP Ng and his boss be calm and don’t panic as they were both talking at once while we were trying to explain to the police what we were doing and to clarify their erroneous impression that we constituted an illegal assembly.

“Do you know, “ said the boss, “that five is an illegal assembly? There are more than five of you here.”

ASP Ng, who had done more homework this evening, said that three constituted an illegal assembly.

“Yes,” I said and volunteered the names of the relevant laws: the Penal Code stipulates five people while the Police Act stipulates three people. We know our law as well.

We could just be meeting to decide whether to have dinner at Bangsar or Brickfields and using candlelight to look up directions on a map and got cited for illegal assembly, right? You see how worrisome this whole police attitude is?

My friend told the police duo that there were only two of us and two was not an assembly and not illegal by any means.

“No you cannot do that,” the boss said.

“That is not illegal nor an assembly,” we said.

“What is the candle for then?” the boss queried.

Now one would think that we did not have to go over this carefully. The point is, if two is not an assembly under any law, whether we have candles or not would be totally inconsequential. But they were not getting it.

“You have damaged my property,” I said. “You broke all my candles and I am not in an assembly.” (Not by any stretch of imagination.)

“What are the rest doing here with you then?”

My friend replied that they were not in an assembly with us. They were standing apart, if need be two-by-two.

The police duo were not budging.

I said that two of us would stay here to do a vigil and the others could stay across the road (and maybe you guys - police - could go across the road as well?) and allow the two of us our right to gather peacefully on this side of the road?

“How many more times do we need to say that this is illegal,” said the plainclothes police with the loudhailer.

“Hey, I know you,” I said. “You are from Bukit Aman last Saturday.”

“No, this is my station,” he said. He was not getting any action tonight as his two bosses were in town today.

I wonder if these were the police personnel responsible for dragging Jonah into the police station on July 5. “I would have to report that both of you claim that two is an assembly and (that it) is illegal. I would have to file a complaint with Suhakam and complain to the Bar Council as this is not so under the law,” I said.

The boss said that he did not say that. “That is your right to complain,” he said.

“Our right is to gather peacefully,” we said.

“You guys are a riot,” I said.

I believe that friends who had stood away from us were also harassed similarly. The police had surrounded us of course. But the thing is none of us who were there was afraid of this show of force. I think it was because we knew what we were about and police intimidation was not getting anywhere.

I think we managed to light the candles for less than five minutes before we were rushed to end the vigil.

As we were leaving the pavement, there was a shout, “Bebaskan Jonah! Bebaskan Fuad! Mansuhkan ISA!”

Next time we have to add, “Hidup Mahasiswa!” (Long live the university students!)

Now e-mail us your views.