Police show up at offices of Bersih, Suaram

Two police officers turned up at the premises of electoral watchdog Bersih and human rights group Suaram in Petaling Jaya this morning.

Malaysiakini learned that the officers wanted to record statements in connection with their investigation into the protest held outside Parliament on Wednesday.

The protest was over the tabling of the Election Commission's electoral constituency redelineation report.

The police wanted to quiz Bersih acting chairperson Shahrul Aman Mohd Saari, executive director Yap Swee Seng, steering committee member Mandeep Singh and Suaram coordinator Amir Abdul Hadi - who had acted as the protest's emcee - as well.

Following negotiations, the police officers agreed to the four turning up at the Dang Wangi district police headquarters at a later date to have their statements recorded.

Negotiations with police

Besides Yap and Mandeep, who turned up much later, both Shahrul and Amir were not in the office.

Yap, who dealt with the police officer, said the police were investigating them under Section 9(5) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012, which emphasised the need of 10 days’ notice before the assembly.

"I told them to serve notice (of the investigation) under Section 111 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), but he refused and insisted there is no need to give the notice," Yap (photo) said.

Section 111 of the CPC states that a police officer may, by order in writing, summon witnesses for questioning.

The four are willing to cooperate with the police but not under the circumstance of a surprise visit to take statements, he said.

"We decided to talk to a lawyer and fix a date to go to the police station, and he agreed with that arrangement," Yap added.

The police officers also barred members of the media from taking photographs and video recordings at Suaram’s office.

The government tabled the controversial constituency redelineation report in Parliament on March 27 and passed the bill on it in the evening, with a vote of 129 for and 80 against.

The report was gazetted within 24 hours.

Some 400 protesters had gathered at Tugu Negara and marched toward Parliament on the morning of the report’s tabling.

The protest was mobilised by Bersih, which claimed the new redelineation report was rife with gerrymandering and malapportionment to give the ruling BN government an advantage in the forthcoming 14th general election.

Bersih also said that any intimidation attempts by the police would not threaten the electoral watchdog's focus on the redelineation exercise.

"The people should also focus on a bigger issue, which is our role in the coming election. Cheating must be defeated and we, the people must win," Bersih said in a statement in the afternoon. -Mkini