MP: Police humiliated me, treated like a criminal

Seremban MP Anthony Loke, who were among 19 protesters carted away to a lock-up yesterday in Negeri Sembilan for defending the demolition of Kampung Hakka Mantin, has complained of police cruelty.

"I felt humiliated. In discharging my duty as a wakil rakyat, today I was treated like a criminal by the police," the DAP MP wrote on his Facebook page.

“Handcuffed, (made to do a) urine test, DNA sampling, fingerprints recording and the worst, photographed with the report number at my chest.”

Loke’s (left) posting on the popular online social networking, uploaded late yesterday evening, has received hundreds of sympathetic comments.

He was arrested along with other human rights activists including PSM secretary-general S Arutchelvan, Suaram's Nalini Elumalai and A Thevaraj, as well as other opposition politicians and state assemblypersons. 

They have since been released on bail pending a formal charge.

The protesters were arrested under Article 186 of the Penal Code, for obstructing public servants from carrying out their work.

The pre-planned demolition works at Kampung Hakka was to make way for a mixed-development project by the developer, Mega 9 Housing Sdn Bhd.

It proceeded after an order from the Seremban High Court in effect declared the villagers squatters and gives the developer legal standing to demolish the houses (right).

Loke said yesterday that while the state has power to alienate land, it should have been given to the residents who had been occupying the area for generations, instead of private developers.

‘Chilling impact’ on human rights defenders

Meanwhile, Amnesty International slammed yesterday's arrests as an infringement on the rights of the people, showing that Malaysia was increasingly intolerant towards free speech and protests.

“Arbitrary arrests like this infringe on the right of protesters to peacefully exercise freedom of expression and assembly, and have a chilling impact on anyone engaged in defending human rights,” said Isabelle Arradon at Amnesty International through a press statement.

She claimed it received reports that the police had allegedly used excessive force and were unreasonable.

"One of the protesters told Amnesty International that the police were physically abusive towards the protesters, saying that they were mishandled and a few were attacked by police aggressively,” Arradon said.

She further claimed that a protester also said that police declined their efforts to negotiate peacefully.

This was despite the fact that they had sought a stay order from the Court of Appeal, and were awaiting a decision at the time of the protest.

The international human rights watchdog now wants the Malaysian authorities to fully investigate the incident.

Amnesty had previously slammed Malaysia for making "empty talk" when it defended its improving human rights record to UN members at the Universal Periodical Review (UPR) meeting in Geneva last month.