Lawyer-activist Siti Kasim has vowed to continue with her work despite an apparent attempt on her life yesterday.
In a video livestream, she told her followers she was “shaky” and worried after the incident, but she will still travel to Kelantan as planned to make a court appearance on Monday.
“I will still be going, nothing is going to stop me.
“I have to be there, I have to be for my Orang Asli friends to support them and help them,” Siti (above) said.
The case is a negligence suit brought by the families of seven Orang Asli children who ran away from the hostel at SK Pos Tohoi, Kelantan, on Aug 23, 2015. Four of the children had died before they were found.
The suit is being brought against the government, the education minister, the education director-general, the headmaster of SK Tohoi, the school dorm warden, the rural development minister (the ministry has since morphed into the rural and regional development ministry), the Orang Asli Welfare director-general, the inspector-general of police, and the Gua Musang district police chief.
Siti said she is due to be the case’s first witness in the four-day hearing scheduled at the Kota Bharu High Court next week. A team of lawyers acting on a pro bono basis is travelling there too.
It was during preparation for the long trip that she brought her car to a workshop in Bangsar, where the mechanic discovered a suspicious device on the brake area of one of the rear tyres of her Toyota Celica.
Police have said the device is suspected to be an improvised explosive device (IED).
Siti thanked the police for taking the matter seriously. She said the police had retrieved the device using a robot and detonated it elsewhere, and was working hard to gather evidence.
Kuala Lumpur police chief Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain has assured her that he would not allow such incidents to happen on his watch, she said.
‘I just hope they’ll be arrested’
Siti then condemned the perpetrators of the incident as “inhuman”.
“Whatever I have done and said all this while is for the benefit of all of us - for Malaysia, for the goodness of our country.
“Criticising the conduct of our government and politicians or people who are running this country is not unpatriotic.
“I just hope that these people will be arrested,” she said.
She also thanked her supporters, particularly those who have financially supported her advocacy for the Orang Asli community.
Meanwhile, Parti Sosialis Malaysia deputy chairperson S Arutchelvan urged the government to set up an independent task force to investigate the incident.
In a statement yesterday, he also said the police need to give her protection in order to ensure her safety.
“Though we don’t want to speculate at this point in time, past incidents which happened, such as the enforced disappearance of Pastor Raymond Koh and Amri Che Mat as well as unrevealed classified information gives the impression that there is an organised crime taking place which has not been resolved,” he added. - Mkini
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