PETALING JAYA: Bersih has condemned the arrest of a special officer to Selangor menteri besar Amirudin Shari over a Twitter post about Ali Rustam’s convoy last month, saying the Melaka governor is not above criticism.
The electoral reform group said state governors were also public servants receiving taxpayers’ money and must accept that they were subject to public scrutiny.
“Taking their power for granted and attempting to silence legitimate criticism will only undermine the legitimacy of the state level’s highest public office and even parliamentary democracy.
“Bersih is alarmed that such a benign tweet would invite disproportionate retaliation, with three officers showing up to arrest a citizen for speaking up against a public official,” it said in a statement.
In a Twitter post yesterday, Jay Jay Denis said three officers from the Alor Gajah police had detained him and that he was being taken to Melaka in relation to a police report lodged against him.
He said the police report was believed to be linked to his posting on Sept 6 of a video said to show Ali’s convoy leaving a restaurant in Medan Damansara, Kuala Lumpur.
In his caption, Denis claimed to have witnessed Ali’s convoy of “eight (police) outriders and three escort vehicles” blocking traffic on the Sprint Highway before making a U-turn, with Ali then emerging from one of the cars.
“I thought there was an important official national function. But no,” he said, claiming that Ali was at the restaurant for a family dinner.
Denis’ lawyer, Ambiga Sreenevasan, said he was released at about 11.30pm after making a statement, and his smartphone was confiscated.
He was being investigated under the Penal Code for statements conducive to public mischief.
Bersih said the incident exemplified the need for an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission, urging the police to respect constitutional rights and to stop all forms of intimidation against members of the public. - FMT
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