Teen's companion refused to sign 'admission of guilt'

The youth who accompanied the 19-year-old who turned herself in for investigation for stepping on the prime minister’s picture said he refused to sign a “statement of admission (of guilt)”.

Lim Kian Peng, 20, told reporters today that he was asked to sign the statement even though he did not commit the act. 

“They asked one question. ‘Did you go with Ms Ong to Kuala Lumpur that day?’ I said, ‘Yes’. Then they constrained my movement. I couldn’t go out or call others. They took me to a room.

“Then, in the room, an officer brought a statement asked me to sign it.

“The statement was on Section 4 (1)(b) of the Sedition Act. I briefly went through it and found that it was a statement of admission (of guilt) and I refused to sign,” he said.

Lim (right, in photo) added that the police said he would have to "bear the consequences" of not signing the statement and handcuffed him a few minutes after.

Lim had accompanied Ong Sing Yee, 19, to the Johor Baru Sentral police station yesterday, after the latter spotted her photograph among the 11 wanted by police in relation to the Aug 30 incident.

According to Ong, who was also present at the press conference at the DAP headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today, she had signed a similar statement as described by Lim.

Speaking through her lawyer Eric Tan (left), Ong said she signed the statement, believed to be an admission of guilt, without reading it.

Ong, who is not well-versed in English or Bahasa Malaysia, said a police officer explained the statement to her in Chinese in a "speedy manner" and she had signed it without understanding the content as she was under the impression that it would not be detrimental to her.

The duo were sent by Johor police to Kuala Lumpur for questioning and were held at the Dang Wangi district police headquarters until 2am today.

Not there for ‘Janji Demokrasi'

Ong said they were asked about the details of their whereabouts on the night of Aug 30, and what they had done at the Dataran Merdeka area.

She said she bought a red DAP T-shirt, with the party's mascot Ubah (Change) on it, from a vendor who was selling it in the area that night and was wearing it when she stepped on the picture.

Johor police had earlier confiscated the T-shirt and some other articles of clothing that she was wearing that night.

According to Lim, they were there for the Merdeka countdown, and not for the ‘Janji Demokrasi’ rally.

He said they had intended to head to Sunway Lagoon but deferred their plans to Aug 31 as some of their friends heading back to Johor as they had to work.

"We checked into Lotus Hotel and heard there was a countdown nearby and walked there (to the Dataran Merdeka area)," he said.