Police car crash victim speaks out

Coming out to admit that he is one of the four Bersih 3.0 rally protesters a police car crashed into outside the Sogo mall on Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman last Saturday, Su Kuang Hong said he was doing so to clear the air on the matter.

He was coming forward, Su said, because of the efforts of police to paint the crowd as an angry mob of rioters that attacked police and to refute the inspector-general of police (IGP) Ismail Omar's statement that there was no one underneath the police car.

"I was hit by a Proton Waja police car at the Bersih scene, " Su, 25, who is warded at the at Hospital Kuala Lumpur said.

He claimed he was hit by the back of the police car and the impact sent threw him on to the bonnet of the car, which continued to move and its sudden stop soon after sent him bumping against a wall in front of Sogo.

Su obtained at least five injuries, on his forehead, jaw, wrist and thigh, as a result of the force with which he crashed against the wall.

Su works as a service engineer with a government-linked company and is the first victim of the police car crash incident to speak up.

In an interview with Malaysiakini yesterday, Su said he lodged two police reports earlier yesterday, on the crime and accident perspectives.

He said the police officer who attended to him said he was third complainant to lodge a report on this incident.

"I lodged the report because I want to be a piece of the puzzle to recover the truth, and I need a record to claim my medical expenses," Su said.

Trapped in a coffee shop for an hour

Su said he had an expensive medical bill, totalling RM6,789 because as he also seek treatment at a private hospital as well, with experts to treat and ascertain if he had been internally injured after the impact.

Su comes from a big family and he said on the rally day, he and 21 of his relatives went to the KL city centre. Some of his relatives even flew back from Sabah and China to take part in Bersih 3.0.

This was the first time he was taking part in a public protest, Su said, because he want to see clean and fair elections held in the country.

Su and his relatives arrived at the city centre in the morning , and it was all over for them by 3pm and they went to have a drink at a coffee shop at Wisma Bandar on Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman.

"Then came the attack, the coffee shop operator acted fast and closed main door... we saw from inside how police arrested protesters," he said.

"Tear gas filtered into the coffee shop. It was hot and we had to struggle to breathe... our faces and eyes were burning from the chemicals," he said, adding that it was one long, painful hour seeking refuge in the shop.

They got back to the street to go home around 4pm and Su started looking for the other relatives should could not join them at the coffee shop before the doors were closed.

"We went back to the Bandaraya LRT station, but it was closed, and again wer came under siege, with the tear gas attacks coming from both sides," he said.

Su said he was contacting his cousin with his mobile phone, while standing with the crowd in the middle of the road, when he saw a car come charging towards them.

Saw the driver, but he seemed conscious

"I saw the police Proton Waja come towards me (from the direction of Pertama Complex) and I ran toward Sogo to avoid being hit, but the car too headed the same way and I was hit," Su said.

He felt hurt and dizzy after the crash, but was still conscious. When he was taken into an ambulance van, he saw a policeman in uniform in it and suspected he was the driver of the police car.

Some protesters, he said, opened the ambulance door and shouted angry words at the policeman. Some clearly blamed him, saying, itu sebab u... ada orang cedera (because of you, some people are injured).

"I was feeling very hurt, but I felt no anger towards the policeman," Sun said, adding that was still conscious then and had a wound on his head.

Su noted the policeman moved agilely when asked by ambulance staff to move further into the car, as the ambulance need to fit in another wounded man on a stretcher.

The policeman who drove the Proton Waja that day, Mohamad Kamil Paimin, told the media that he had passed out and became conscious only after receiving treatment at the hospital.

Su also showed two video clips that have been posted online after the incident, using his laptop, and pointed to a man wearing a white shirt.

"This flying guy in white shirt, with both legs pointed to the sky, is me," he said, pointing at the screen.

The video clip, titled "Kejadian sebenar Polis langgar 4 peserta BERSIH 3.0 depan SOGO (Real truth of police hitting 4 Bersih participants in front Sogo)", is a one-minute clip showing the poice car hitting a few protesters in the crowd.

Another seven-minute clip titled "Insiden kereta polis langgar peserta Bersih (Incident of police car hitting Bersih participants)", offers a more holistic picture of the scene.

Police not entirely to be blamed

Su said the crash wasn't entirely the police car driver's fault, for he had spotted something hit the man when he was driving.

He is also unhappy with the scene showing a few protesters attacking the policeman, saying it should have been a peaceful rally.

Asked about IGP Ismail's denial that the police car hit protesters, Su said this was nothing unusual and from what he usually reads in news, the country's leaders distort the facts.

Su admitted he had hesitated in lodging a report and speaking up for fear losing his job. He only decided to do so on Monday.


"I am still under the six months' probation... my company offers good welfare benefits, a five-day work week, 22 days of annual leave and insurance coverage," he said.

"The company also partially subsides interests on house and car loans taken by employees," Su said.

Asked what would happen if the company sacked him, Su said, "Possibly, I might look at politics".

VIDEO 1

VIDEO 2