Thursday, May 03, 2012

Myth 3: Police brutality


The 28 million population is aghast with the defiance and violence perpetuated by the Bersih 3.0 mob towards the law enforcement agency i.e. the police.

The opposition (and not quite the Bersih 3.0 participants) are in the blame game towards police brutality. The politician and social media propagandist are working overtime in their ceramah circuit and cyber battlefield.

They have got the Bar Council, 'friendly' foreign observer and international media lending their hands to prepare reports to demonise the police. National Union of Journalist (NUJ) are claiming members of the press are being harassed also.

This is the only excuse or weapon left for them. Otherwise, Anwar hope of being Prime Minister in the upcoming general election will be as good as nil. They have made Barisan Nasional ambitious enough to dream of two third majority, though it is still doubtful.

Was it police brutality or law enforcement?

Legally Empowered

As already discussed in previous posting here, The Police Act 1967 Article 27 empowers the police to regulate assemblies, meetings and processions. Article 27 B empowers them to use of force when ordered to disperse, they do not disperse.

The police power comes also under the Federal Constitution. No question over constitutional rights of the police to enforce the law and maintain public order.

The Anwar friendly "independent" foreign observer and Bar Council will likely raise Article 3 and Article 5 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights on the rights to "peaceful assembly"and no once should be subjected to "inhuman or degrading treatment".

Our posting on that subject here reveals that the police should also not be subjected to inhumane and degrading treatment in the course of carrying out their job. There are also eight other Articles to consider in favour of the police, namely Articles 6, 7 , 8, 12, 21, 28, 29 and 30.

Bias Bar Council

If they decide to close one eye on those articles, then Bar Council and Foreign Observers reports are bias. And predictably, page 3 of Bar Council report only quotes Article 3, 5 and 8. Let's not even bother to read the rest of the report.

The 30 page Bar Council is basically only 2 page long. The rest is their arrogant assumption to conclude everyone else are not able to read and understand the law except them, thus attempt to teach the law.

In item 1.3 they unanimously concluded that:

-----------------

i) The rally was peaceful until around 3pm when the police opened fire with their water cannons and teargas;
(ii) The use of force by the police without any obvious provocation or cause, was far worse indiscriminate, disproportionate and excessive;
(iii) Police brutality was more widespread;
(iv) There was a concerted effort by the police to prevent and stop any recording of their actions and conduct;
(v) Police fired tear gas directly at the crowd and their firing pattern was to box in the participants rather than allowing them to disperse quickly;
(vi) After which there were pockets of retaliatory behaviour exhibited by the participants of the rally to the wrongful use of force by the police;
(vii) The police were observed taunting and mocking the crowd;
(viii) When items were thrown by some of the participants at the police, the police
stooped to return like for like; and
(ix) The police personnel were not wearing and displaying their police identification number on their uniform.

-------------------

Notice how bias Bar Council are against the police.


Not only their office front display such contempt of the police, none of their conclusion blame it on the participants.

So-Called Independent

The Foreign Observer was reported as taken from Anwar Ibrahim's blog as below:

-----------

‘Rally Peaceful Until Protesters Were Provoked’

An international fact-finding mission on the Malaysian election also notes that the mainstream media is biased.

KUALA LUMPUR: An international fact-finding mission on election found that the Bersih 3.0 rally yesterday was peaceful until the police acted provocatively.

Speaking at a press conference to present a preliminary report on the rally here today, independent Senator Nick Xenophon from Australia said: “It was peaceful [until the protesters were provoked].”

He also criticised the one-sided report on the rally in the mainstream broadcast media.

“The mainstream media is biased and unfair. We saw more of Prime Minister Najib (Tun Razak) in Sabah on television than the largest political expression in Malaysia,” said Xenophon.

[Comment: Readers should ask is Nick Xenophon is a fair and truly independent observer. Read Rocky Bru's here.

If he criticised the one-sided report in the media, he should be specific. The mainstream media are bias for the opposition. Only few are pro-Government.]

Another member of the seven-men team, India Times editor MJ Akbar, said the participants were actually in a festive mood.

“The crowd had ample time to turn violent if they had wanted to. [But] there was a festive mood until the provocation happened,” Akbar said.

[Comment: Was it police provocation or enforcement? Police is legally empowered and justified but not the protesters. Who provoke who first? Was he around the night before?]

Senator Hasil Bizenjo of Pakistan was surprised that transport services to Kuala Lumpur were crippled yesterday.

“In other countries transport is provided for people to attend a rally. Here some people told me that they had to walk 20km to attend the rally,” Bizenjo said.

[Comment: That is the organiser's job. Does he expect the police to transport protesters who are attending an illegal assembly?]

The other members of the team are writer Nasir Tamara of Indonesia, Clinton Fernandes of University New South Wales, Dean Amado Valdez of the Philippines and Juliane Schmucker from Germany.

Recalling a conversation the group had with Umno secretary-general, Tengku Adnan Mansor, Fernandes said:

“He [Tengku Adnan] stressed the importance of ‘avoiding racial strife. He also said improvement on election is not needed because the people here are immature.”

Fernandes also quoted Tengku Adnan as saying: “One of the problems with Indonesia is that there is too much freedom.”

However, Akbar said that “democracy needs freedom from fear and freedom of assembly”.

“It is unfortunate that some voices believe that this nation wants to exercise harmony without democracy,” he said, adding that he believes Malaysia deserves democracy.

[Comment: Democrasy has the minority and majority to think off too. Rights and freedom to assembly is subjected to the rule of law. Democrasy should not be the excuse to promote lawlessness and chaos. By design, Bersih 3.0 is meant to be violence, incite police use of force, and chaotic! ]

The preliminary report also highlighted the mission’s concern over the integrity of the 240,000 election workers, and the lack of free and fair elections.

Bizenjo pointed out the weakness of Malaysia’s democratic institutions.

“The Election Commission looks so backward… It needs to improve. Even Pakistan has moved to electronic voting,” he said.

[Comment: Bizenjo should improve the practise of democrasy in his country, Pakistan first before meddling in Malaysia which have uninterrupted general elections for the past 60 years.

We do not have Prime Ministers murdered in the streets like in Pakistan.]


The members also declared their independence even though they were invited by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim to witness the rally.

“We don’t care who wins. I am not a Malaysian,” Fernandes said.

[Comment: Anwar and the obserrvers are most improper to make claim of independence. It has to come from other credible parties. Do they have any?]

---------------------

Police Action

Obviously the two reports withheld important pieces of information.

Bar Council report acknowledged the unruly behaviour of the participants. They intentionally hid that part in the Appendices in page 26 of the 30 page report.

The Mole had expanded on this fact that the Bersih participant provoked the police to carry out their duty here.

This is what happened. The police had acted only after protesters had violently and in rage broke the first two line of barricades.


The first barricade were the police human barricade.



Protesters ran after the police after the first barricade was broken


The second barricade was the steel fences.


The last barricade left was the barbed wire fence that Anwar and Azmin irresponsibly provoked the crowd to break. Thus it was the protesters that provoked the police to defend by spraying water and tear gas to the crowd and not otherwise.


This provocation had build-up from the night before, around midnight. The police were being jeered, patrol cars were thrown bottles and objects, and bus ferrying riot police were abused.

The police were patient from the night till afternoon. If it had been the army, they would have shot into the crowd for repeatedly ignoring warnings and disperse orders. Mind you, the so-called 'brutal' police have a court order and empowered under the Police Act 1967 and Federal Constitution to act to disperse the unruly and defying crowd.

After being warned to disperse and subjected to water spray and tear gas, the mobs did not disperse but turned violence. The police has a duty to control and bring back public order. The violence must not be allowed to continue.



Some of these protesters were armed with sticks and bamboos. There was a case of a police pistol being taken by mobsters swarming them.

The next course of action was to not allow the mob to regroup at Sogo, Jalan Tun Perak, Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, among other places. The police had to 'attack' by moving forward with the backing of water cannon and tear gas.

They arrested the hardcore and ringleaders including "Chegu" Bard, Tian Chua, etc. Hishamuddin Rais was too coward, as usual, to face the police despite orchestrating it from afar.

Till 6:30 pm, the mobs still resisted.


The police went on another mode to not allow any chance of regrouping by the mob. The went for the Genghiz Khan tactic to "scare off" several hard-core stubborn ones and released them. They then spread the news that police is on rampage albeit tactically selective.

If it had been other foreign countries, including the so-called democratically advanced one, the treatment would have been more severe. Read RBF here.

Casualties

If the police were brutal, what are casualties for the Bersih side as compared to the reported police casualties?


Police on motorcycle were thrown large stones and beat up in numbers.

Patrol car was thrown objects and window smashed while moving causing the car to lose control. Then mobs smashed the car badly and overturned it.


Before that a roadside cone was poked towards the driver, Constable Mohd Kamil Parimin that gave him a broken nose. When he was taken out, he was subjected to further aggression that resulted in seven stitches on his head.


The Al Hijrah cameraman, Mohd Ariz's act of chivalry in his attempt to save the police man was rewarded by the mobs with nine stitches!

There are many more policemen badly injured in the line of duty:

Bil

Pangkat//No/Nama

Tempat Tugas

Kecederaan

Tempat Rawatan

(i) KONST 165534MOHD FAIRUZ bin ZULKIFLI Anggota Trafik KL Cedera di badan akibat ditendang dan dipijak. HKL.
(ii) KONST 171668NAZRIL AZIZ bin RAHMAN Anggota Bukit Aman Cedera di kepala akibat di baling batu.T.H.S. Lee Rpt. : 15081/12 HKL
(iii) KPL 141269ABU BAKAR bin ABD RAHIM Anggota Petaling Jaya Cedera di mulut akibat dibaling objek keras. HUKM
(iv) KONST 171506AZIZI bin MOHD NOH Anggota Trafik Bukit Aman Cedera di pipi kanan akibat dibaling objek keras. HKL.
(v) KONST 179157MOHD NOR FIRDAUS bin Hj ABU BAKAR Anggota Caw. Khas PUTRAJAYA Retak tulang tangan kanan akibat dipukul dengan kayu.Dang Wangi Rpt:- 16848/12 HUKM
(vi) KONST 175128MOHD KAMIL bin PARIMIN Anggota Bahagian Pengangkuta IPD TERENGGANU Cedera di kepala dan menerima 7 jahitan HKL
(vii) L/KPL 152574MOHD NASIR bin ABU MANSOR Anggota Trafik KL Cedera di Badan dan tidak boleh duduk. HKL
(viii) KONST179689 ZAMAN bin ALI Balai Polis Wangsa Maju Setapak Patah hidung HKL
(ix) KONST 184197 SHUIB bin JAMALUDIN IPD KANGAR Tekanan Darah Tinggi HKL
(x) KONST 171481 BASIRON A/L BAH PELON BALAI POLIS TUN RAZAK Cedera di buku lali akibat disepak. Dang Wangi Rpt :- 16857/12 HKL
(xi) KPL 148646 MOHD ISKANDAR RIMIE BIN ALI PGA Pengkalan Hulu Pengsan HKL
(xii) L/KPL 124962 TUAN RUZI BIN TUAN SENG IPD Machap, JOHOR Luka di bahagian bibir dan lebam seluruh badan HKL
(xiii) L/KPL AMIRUL BIN NAWRI Balai Polis Port Dickson Sesak nafas HKL
List courtesy of Bigdog here.

What about the other side?


Thus far it is only an unfortunate passerby Su Kuang Hong hit at the car side by the
uncontrolled police car. He was admitted into HKL.

There is one death at around 11:00 am but that was due to hs personal health issues.

Perhaps they are many more. But are their injuries as bad as the that experienced by the police? Are those beaten up by the police broke any bones or bruised badly?

Trust the opposition to make a big news and turn it into a political propaganda if any of them were to be badly injured. Without any, it is as good as none.

Spoilt Press

As far as the claimed violence on the press, did they have their press tag on? Secondly, were they registered with the police to cover for the event? Thirdly, are the complaining press members from the pro-opposition Chinese press?

One press member, a camerawomen with Malaysiakini was together as part of the mob. Among others, she was on record screaming curses at the police and instructing the crowd to overturn the car. When there is no one stuck under the car as many spinned it to be, she yelled to the crowd to run out of fear of an explosion.

See the video below:


With a press behaving irresponsibly, don't expect Waldord Astoria butler service from the police. In the first place, why should they expect such pampering?

Pak Kadiaq Jasin here reminded them not to be cry babies:

----------------------

1. Journalists, media photographers and cameramen must accept that their occupations carry a certain degree of risk. If they cannot accept that they should not be journalists, photographers and cameramen.

2. It is easy for a “peaceful” demonstration to turn violent and for media personnel to be mistaken for protestors in the melee, especially now when every other Dick, Tom and Harry carries a camera and, in many instances, claims or pretend to be members of the Press and some members of the Press were attired like protestors. (That is why, despite my ugly face being fairly widely known, I still carry the press accreditation card issued by the Information Department because some young police personnel and state officials may not recognize me.)

3. I hold the Bersih 3.0 organisers responsible for their flock breaking the agreed and publicised rules and breaching the barriers because they claimed that the demonstration would be a peaceful and apolitical one.

4. I hold the police force responsible if its members provoked or acted unreasonably against the Press and the protestors.

5. When the reporter asked about protests in the early days, I told her that in those days, protesters (including Anwar Ibrahim) seemed to know and accept what they were getting into. They were willing to be arrested or had their legs beaten with rotan by the riot police (FRU).

6. In fact, they took pride in being “caned” and considered the cane marks as battle wounds and proofs of commitment to what they stood for. I told her that too many people who took part in the protest were clueless and were made up of “ponens”, “pondans” and “darai” who cried foul at the slightest mishandling or injury.

7. Some were so ignorant that they thought the Bersih 3.0 demonstration was a festival, a fiesta, a carnival and a family outing such that they turned up with their young children.

8. I posed the question: Could the Bersih 3.0 organisers have misled the public by deliberately misrepresenting the event?

9. And despite the demonstration being billed as apolitical, opposition leaders, led by Anwar Ibrahim and his loyal aide Azmin Ali, turned up in full force.

---------------------

Why? Why Why?

If Bersih wish to exercise the right to peaceful assembly to express their demand for free election, what does it got to do with taking over Dataran Merdeka (or in the past Bersih 2.0 was Stadium Merdeka)?

They could have voiced it peacefully in any of the stadium assigned by Government without having to risk the safety of protesters and policemen but still get their point through.

A blast from the reformasi past

It is fair on pollice to be wary of big protest involved opposition political parties. The reformasi era protest seldom resulted in cars being smashed as what happened at Bersih 3.0.

Although they claim to be non partisan, Bersih 3.0, just like Bersih and Bersih 2.0 were hijacked by politicians and non partisan protesters were used. That is the reason Anwar Ibrahim had Benji Lim thrown out of his press conference when he couldn't answer allegations that the opposition party hijacked Bersih 3.0.

Wait till the independent committee absolved police from brutality and violence against the press.

Be sure to expect the committee be accused as bias from these non-rationale opposition and opposition sympathisers. In fact, they will accuse them before the committee convene.

They are dead set to make a political propaganda of the police as committing brutality and smear this important pillar of the nation.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

From the nst, the family of that kid who was kidnapped and recently released : 'finally we would like to express our gratitude to the Government of Malaysia, specifically the Royal Malaysian Police. Their number one priority from the start has been the safe return of Nayati and they have been most careful not to do anything that might have jeopardise his safety'

these hate mongers dont realized how lucky we are to have the police force covering our backs...do you a**holes feel safe in malaysia...if you dont you only have yourselves to blame for provoking our men in blue who tirelessly protect us and without so much of a 'thank you' from these ingrates surpress their every wish to inflict serious hurt to these a**holes when their fallen comrades were unjustly beaten for what? For the measly airtime so that cnn bbc and the west could tarnish our countries name so the jubur fella can get mileage?...i say who ever walked away alive from that after the melee is damn luck coz if it was me in the police force i'd just go postal and spray bullets on anythin yellow..ye yellow livered piece of bersh**t !!!!!

Anonymous said...

LOL. A very long article, but from the very first line, you started on the wrong foot, and tells us that your article should be treated with a massive pinch of salt.

"The 28 million population is aghast with the defiance and violence perpetuated by the Bersih 3.0 mob towards the law enforcement agency i.e. the police."

What is more certain is the vast majority of the population is aghast by the police violence AGAINST the Bersih3.0 participants.

Why so? Because I've seen it and experienced it, along with the 200,000+ population. And no amount of cock-and-bull mainstream news reporting and your on-the-couch writing could ever sway me.

How's that for a factual and well argued comment?

Jokiden said...

Kupasan yang cukup menarik dan menyeluruh.. Jokiden nak copy artikel ni untuk rujukan..

Bersih is Bershit said...

Anon 6:22

DOnt just deny and insult.

Duduk dan Bantah di Stadium Merdeka. Kick and beat up the policemen.

Continue till PRU13.

We are just too happy :)

Bersih is Bershit said...

Dataran Merdeka I mean

Sanders said...

I was told Facebook was full of stories about police brutality. I am sorry but only a small minority agree with you. Most of them are in shock that the police can resort to such brutality.

Anonymous said...

Ordinary Malaysians like me are behind our boys in blue 100%! Well done boys! Actually the majority of peace loving Malaysians would prefer to see the police force come down harder on those yobbos.I've lived in various countries in the West for over two decades and I can tell you that our boys in blue were very patient with the yobbos. Kalau di negeri Barat dah lama dah perusuh perusuh tu kena pukul dek polis...Malaysians yg komplen banyak banyak sangat patut duduk lamalama kat Eropah, barulah tau berapa untungnya kita yg tinggal dibumi Malaysia.

Anonymous said...

To Bersih is Bershit,

Deny and insult? Am I supposed to deny my own two eyes and my other fully-functioning senses? Is the honest truth an insult to you?

I comment based on my own experiences of being right in the middle of it.

What about you? And how did ABITW write about this? From his own experiences, or being in front of his computer, oblivious to the actual happenings?

Go figure.

If an honest comment (without bad language, and based on first-hand experiences) is an insult to you, I really don't know how much more prejudiced a person can be.

Bersih is Bershit said...

Anon

Your two eyes can estimate 200,000?

Wakaka

adieu1999 said...

If u guys see what happened to Occupy Wallstreet, u guys would thankful that we are in malaysia. Btw to those Yellow fella especially those from PKR, I still remember how ur Boss fond promote this mantra on Adil sticker(it was Adil those day): Kalau takut risiko, usah bicara pasal perjuangan~

Anonymous said...

just because in facebook it's seam everybody are all in supportive of the illegal assembly doesn't mean it is true..
and most people like you believed it, it's truly sad that you willing to lower your ability to make a sense of everything..

Anonymous said...

6:22 PM'

if you are sooooo aghast with the so-called 'police brutality', don't you think that pr wont have the police force if they were at helm?

too good to be true! pr may not have the police but pr will sure make full use of their own volunteered task-force group (no pay/salary because pr people like everything FREE) to take care of anyone who goes against them, in the first place! if anyone questions about it, in he/she goes!! full ov bullshit!! ironically, pr will exercise forceful power to control anyone against them!! seen so much ov holier than thou spirit already!

Anonymous said...

Salam Tuan,

No amount of evidence, views and bending over by the Govt will placate the idiocy and gullibity of these hooligans led by their opposition mobsters.

@anon 6:22 PM,
I have been dying to say this, I do not subscribe to street demos as a show of strength or support.

I can make an exception.

By your argument I challenge the yellow Ambiga and her opposition cohorts for:

1. BERSIH to stop further cow dung droppings

2. The opposition do not take part in the next election if the ruling party amasses more than a million rakyat to rally in support of the Govt.

Can?

And this is no cock and bull.

Regards
Freddie

Anonymous said...

Recently i had a very funny chat to one PR die hard fan :-

ME : beb..ko pi tak bersih hari tu?
HIM: pi..SB polis banyak bro..dorg la yg provoke tu pasal phimpunan jd kecoh..
ME : Ye ke? jadi yg baling botol ..terbalikkan kete tu semua SB polis lah??
HIM : Iya la bro..semua dorg punya kerja...
ME : Mana ko tau?..ko pernah kerja jadi SB polis ke?
HIM : tak pernah bro..
ME : so ..mana ko tau tu semua SB...
HIM : member2 perhimpunan cakap...
ME : (Ddalam hati : senangnya puak2 ni percaya ckp org)....lol..

alvin said...

If the police were brutal, what are casualties for the Bersih side as compared to the reported police casualties?
Well, I think it is just you didn't wish to seek real figure yourself. You said about 13 police officers casualties and 1 of them i found it hilarious which I quote here. (xiii) L/KPL AMIRUL BIN NAWRI Balai Polis Port Dickson Sesak nafas HKL..What sesak nafas have to do with the protester. If that count, of cause the protester have more sesak nafas cases because of the teargas. Then you published 1 casualties of protester being run by police car. If you really unbias in your article, I assure that you can find more video of police brutality in youtube and publish it too.

As far as the claimed violence on the press, did they have their press tag on?
Secondly, were they registered with the police to cover for the event? Thirdly, are the complaining press members from the pro-opposition Chinese press?

The r police without tag on and its picture all over the internet. And you blame the press might not have their tag on. I'm sure the pressman have shout about his identity while being beaten. And why the camera and recorder need to be rampas?

I'm not sure whether you need police permit to record any event as pressman. Therefore I will not comment.

So are the non-complaining press from pro-government? While there complain, your bias brain will blame it to opposition and why it is 'chinese' pro-opposition and not others? How sure you are that those are only chinese? That show how bias and racist you are.

nshinah said...

Let us hear the policeman's story here:
http://rainbowoftruth.blogspot.com/2012/05/as-police-this-is-my-story.html

My Say