Barricades greet anti-ISA vigils, at least 29 arrested

Riot police have barred activists from holding candlelight vigils to commemorate Internal Security Act's 50th anniversary in eight places around the country.

At Dataran MBPJ, Padang Timur in Petaling Jaya, Selangor - which saw the earliest vigil begin at 8pm -members of the Light Strike Force (LSF) began dispersing the 300-strong crowd just as the latter began signing Negaraku.

Police officers were also seen chasing some protestors out of the Dataran amid shouts of "Hidup, hidup! Hidup rakyat!”, as other personnel formed a line to block more protestors from entering the square.

At least five people were arrested immediately, including Abolish the ISA movement (GMI) chief Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh, Parti Sosialis Malaysia secretary-general S Arutchelvan and PKR supreme council member Badrul Hisham Shaharin.

Siti Kasim (right) from the Bar Council said this was the first time she had seen the police acted with such violence and going to the extent of arresting people even as they enter the nearby Amcorp shopping mall.

"This is very bad. Very violent and unacceptable. We are shocked," she told reporters.

Human rights group Suaram's director Kua Kia Soong also expressed shock and condemned the violence by the police.

"It's disgusting. This possibly could have been a peaceful vigil. What is the aim of the police (doing this)? It's going to make Malaysia more like a police state.

"Today is a very important day. Laws like the ISA only exist in very few countries nowadays. This law allows the authorities to detain people without trial. It's very shameful, and for the police to behave like this, makes Malaysia even more shameful.

"This is the first time I saw the police rushing and breaking the peace in shopping mall. This is very bad for business," said Kua.

Other than Ibrahim, Arutchelvan and Badrul Hisham, the other individuals arrested and brought to the Petaling Jaya district police station included Suresh Kumar, Mohd Fiqtriey, Naqiuddin Sahar, Albert Ang Yik Chuan, Yew Hun Ng, Ng Yap Hwa, Tsuing Han See and Wei Lee.

By around 9:15pm, the police stopped their dispersal and arrests.

At a press conference held shortly after, Petaling Jaya police chief Arjunaidi Mohamed (left) said the organisers did not obtain a permit for tonight's gathering.

"No police permit was applied."

The police chief said further that the organisers had claimed to have been issued a permit from the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ)

"But MBPJ is not the authority authorised to issue such permits. They, with their legal knowledge, should know this very well."

He went on to defend the police action on the basis of the protestors' defiance of police orders to disperse.

""We asked them to disperse, but they refused and went into Amcorp Mall.

"When they came out, they scolded the police and challenged us, so we made the arrests," said Arjunaidi.

He revealed that a total of 25 adults - six women and 19 men - were arrested for illegal assembly. Though there were children in the gathering, none was arrested, said Arjunaidi.

"There were kids involved in the demonstration. In fact, we were more than lenient with them. They only care about their purpose," he added.

In Ipoh, Perak, similarly, dozens of police officers had cordoned off the Dataran Majlis Bandaraya Ipoh and protesters were barred from entering the venue.

In Penang, the police had earlier today posted notices - signed by Georgetown OCPD Asst Comm Gan Kong Meng - around the Speaker's Square in Georgetown warning against any illegal gathering in the area.

Even before the vigil began at 9pm, two activists - Choo Choon Kai and Kris Khaira from PSM - were arrested.

By 8.50pm, Georgetown district police chief Gan Kong Meng asked the crowd - numbering around 100 as opposed to the 180 police personnel who had been mobilised - to "disperse in five minutes."

At the same time, about 10 persons suddenly appeared claiming to represent "those who support the ISA".

Two more activists - lawyer Darshan Singh and Ong Jing Cheng of Suaram - were subsequently taken by the police to Jelutong district police station.

Earlier, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said although this was a sad day as the ISA had been existance for 50 years, he hoped it would remind the people about the importance of freedom.

“In Malaysia, there is freedom of speech, but no freedom after speech,” he said.

The DAP leader also said Penang has tried to broaden the space for freedom of speech by having the Speakers' Square at the Esplanade, which is a tourist spot.

“It is very successful. So far, no untoward incident has happened. It shows that Malaysians can exercise freedom of speech and able to reject extremism,” he told a press conference after launching a DAP fundraising event in the morning.

He said he was not making these comments as a former ISA detainee, but as an 'an activist for freedom and democracy'.

“The ISA is anti-freedom, and together with other laws like the Official Secrets Act, Sedition and Publication and Printing Presses Act, it should be abolished,” he said.