Media statement by Tony Pua Kiam Wee in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, 3^rd May 2012:

Apology by the IGP to Malay Mail cameraman is a most insincere one

Bernama reported that the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Tan Sri Ismail Omar has apologised to Malay Mail cameraman, Muhammad Arif Kartono for being "roughed up" by the police during the Bersih rally.

Muhammad Arif has testified in the Malay Mail on 30 April that he was hit hard on the head with a baton or a fist causing him to fall to the ground together with his camera. He had said that "while on the ground, I saw seven to eight police personnel coming towards me. They kicked me in my face and on my legs, and stomped on my back" causing multiple injuries to the head and body.

The IGP reportedly said "The police apologises for the incident. In the chaos of the situation we could not tell the difference between the assembly participants and media".

The above statement is a complete lie and shows that the IGP is still not willing to embrace the truth and take all necessary actions to punish the guilty police officers.

Muhammad Arif has stated very clearly that he has identified himself with his media tag to the policemen who had tried to stop him from taking photos of a Bersih participant being manhandled. Instead, he was attacked ruthlessly and repeatedly despite him crying out "Saya hanya menjalankan tugas. Kenapa saya dibuat macam ini? (I am just doing my job. Why I am being treated like this?)".

Muhammad Arif was not the only journalist who was a victim to police violence. All other journalists who were either arrested or beaten up had identified themselves to the police with their media tag. However the police had ignored the identifications and proceeded to hit these media personnel, destroy their photography equipment and in some cases confiscated their media tags.

Hence the IGP's statement that the police officers were not able to differentiate between assembly participants and the media" is a complete lie to protect his guilty officers. His apology is therefore clearly insincere and insufficient; as he must accept blame and give an unreserved apology to the entire press corp for intimidation and abuse they have suffered as a result of reckless police action.

More importantly, the IGP is implying that had they not been journalists, then it is perfectly alright for the police officers to beat up the Bersih participants, despite the fact that most of them were not fighting the police or damaging public property. The IGP must clarify if it was legal and acceptable for the police force to beat up and injure assembly participants who were gathering peacefully and were not in any way resisting arrest. It is an absolute tragedy for this so-called democratic country that our IGP who is supposed to uphold the law and protect ordinary Malaysians see it as completely acceptable for police officers to randomly hit and injure the very people they are sworn to protect.

The Police Criminal Investigation Department must demonstrate no fear or favour and uphold the principle that all are equal before the law by investigating and punishing all - both police officers and assembly participants - who committed violence during the Bersih assembly.

Bernama has also separately reported that Bukit Aman Crime Investigation Department director Mohd Bakri Zinin said police would release the pictures of those who attacked the police and members of the public, as well as caused damage to property during the rally.

"We have their pictures and we will release them to the media and the public soon to track them down," he told reporters at the Bukit Aman police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

We would like to state that we support all action by the Police to arrest those who have damaged public property and committed violence against police officers during the Bersih rally.

However, the Police cannot act by just arresting the few unruly Bersih participants but not taken immediate actions against scores of its police officers for committing violence against innocent participants and journalists.

In fact, it should be so much easier for the Police to track down all the errant police officers caught beating up innocent Malaysians on video and photographs than to track down Bersih participants. The crime committed by these police officers is no less than those who damaged public property.

Hence if the Police force is only going after Bersih participants, it will show a clear abuse of power and a great injustice to the innocent Malaysians who were assembling peacefully to uphold their rights.

We call upon the CID to arrest all police officers who were caught on video and photographs clearly committing violence, suspend them during investigation and charge the guilty ones in court for violent conduct and failing to uphold their oath to protect the public. The CID will only lose the confidence of ordinary Malaysians throughout the country if it shows itself to be biased, and fail to bring the guilty police officers to book.

* Tony Pua Kiam Wee, DAP National Publicity Secretary & MP for Petaling Jaya Utara