MP wants Bukit Aman to probe officers after residents’ rep detained

Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun says it raises serious concerns about the treatment of community volunteers acting in the course of their official duties.

Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun said residents’ representative council members are federally appointed community volunteers tasked with reporting issues on the ground. (Facebook pic)

KUALA LUMPUR:

 An MP has called on Bukit Aman to investigate the police officers involved in the arrest and remand of a residents’ representative council member who had reported a case of suspected cable theft.

Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun said the incident last week raised serious concerns about the treatment of community volunteers acting in the course of their official duties.

“This is unreasonable. The higher authorities should investigate the officers involved. Instead of treating him as a complainant, they treated him as a criminal.

“The authorities must also explain to the public whether the decision to remand him for three days and two nights was justified,” Fong said in a press conference today.

He said that on Dec 28, residents’ representative council member Lew Kok Soon had come across exposed cables in front of a hotel along Jalan Ceylon in Kuala Lumpur and informed the chairman of his subzone of the residents’ representative council.

Acting on instructions, Lew started taking photographs of the cables to be forwarded to the relevant authorities for verification.

While he was doing so, hotel staff approached him and said a police report had already been lodged over the cables.

Fong said police went to Lew’s house on Jan 2 and brought him in to assist with investigations. However, Lew was remanded for three days before being released yesterday, with police describing his detention as a misunderstanding.

Fong said residents’ representative council members were federally appointed community volunteers tasked with assisting the public and reporting issues on the ground, a role the police had failed to recognise in this case.

“When community volunteers who report suspected wrongdoing are treated as suspects, it discourages cooperation and weakens public trust,” he said.

Fong also called for a clear explanation of the detention and an internal review of the procedures applied during the investigation.

He likewise called for clear standard operating procedures for handling cases involving residents’ representative council members and community volunteers, and assurances that members would not be detained for carrying out their community duties.

When contacted, investigating officer Umi Amirah told FMT that Lew was remanded as part of standard procedure because he was unable to provide proof of his position in the residents’ representative council.

“When the (hotel staff) asked Lew to show his identification as a council member, he was unable to do so. That is where the misunderstanding arose.

“What made the situation awkward was that there had been a cable theft earlier at the scene between 3am and 4am. So the police did not know who was responsible for the theft, and those living nearby were also unsure who had done it.

“Then, at around noon, Lew arrived at the scene. When he arrived, the residents thought that he might have been the person responsible. We could not be sure whether Lew was telling the truth or not,” she said, emphasising that arrests do not imply guilt, but are part of the investigative process. - FMT