Students claim hospital in cahoots with police in ‘abuse’ cover-up

By Lisa J. Ariffin

January 03, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 3 — The injured student following Saturday’s Tanjung Malim protest will now seek private care, as he is worried the government hospital he’s at now might downplay his injuries.

Kumpulan Aktivis Mahasiswa Independen (Kami) president Haziq Abdul Aziz said today student activist Muhammad Safwan Anang “was very doubtful” about what medical findings Slim River Hospital will present.

“We feel that the government hospital (where Safwan was warded after the incident) is hiding something. They are conspiring with certain parties and are not giving us the proper results,” Haziq told reporters today after lodging a police report on alleging police brutality here.

“Safwan will seek treatment from a private hospital and we will compare the independent results with the one from the government hospital,” he added.

On Sunday at the event at Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI), it was reported that Safwan, the president of student activist group Bebas, was allegedly beaten up, punched and kicked until he lost consciousness and then warded at the government facility.

Since the incident, allegations of police abuse have spread online through social media where undergraduates involved in the demonstration posted tweets condemning what they claim were acts of brutality by the authorities.

However, the police have denied beating up several student activists, saying that there was “no scuffle” when arrests were made.

A video recording uploaded online by Selangor-based news portal Antara Pos of the demonstration does not show police physically attacking students.

However, the recording posted on Youtube showed chaotic scenes when police broke up the demonstration as well as a student bleeding from the head and another suffering from what appeared to be a seizure.