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7th June 2002 Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Abu Talib bin Othman Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri, Re: Complaint
Against Violation Of Human Rights I write on behalf of DAP Perak to complain against blatant
violations of human rights by the Police in the past week in Perak. The 1st incident happened when DAP Chairman, Mr Lim Kit
Siang was wrongfully arrested and detained when he was distributing the leaflet
entitled "No to 929" on 5/6/2002.
He was arrested on the ground that he has committed an offence under the
Sedition Act for “distributing the said leaflets without permit”.
After the arrest, the police discovered that such an offence was
non-existent under the said Act. The police has now used the excuse that the material he
distributed was seditious and therefore, he has committed an offence under
Section 4(1)(c) of Sedition Act. It
is ridiculous to suggest that the said leaflet is seditious.
A copy of the said leaflet is enclosed for your reference.
Mr Lim Kit Siang has lodge a police report against the police for his
wrongful arrest and detention. A
copy of his report is also enclosed for your kind attention. At about 4.40 pm yesterday (6/6/2002) the police raided the
Perak DAP office with a search warrant on the ground that the Ipoh Timur UMNO
division secretary, Zulkifli Abdul Hamid has lodged a police report against the
DAP from distributing the leaflets. The
police have already been given the said leaflets when Mr. Lim Kit Siang was
arrested and knew that the leaflets are not seditious in nature. It was
unwarranted for the police to take away all our ' No to 929 ' leaflets that were
found in our office. The police had become a tool of another political party to
frustrate our People Awareness Campaign on 929. Our premises were raided without
just cause. The officer in charge of Station (OCS) for Menglembu Chief
Inspector Abdul Ghani was seen threatening the public not to receive the said
leaflets when we went distributing the leaflets at the Menglembu market this
morning. The police have also disallowed us to peacefully gather at
the Kampung Simee, Pasir Pinji, Buntong and Menglembu markets to launch the
campaign during the last few days. I urge the SUHAKAM to look into this complaint immediately
and conduct a public inquiry to ensure that the right to association, rights to
dissemination of information, free speech and the right of political parties to
operate freely are preserved in our democratic country. Yours faithfully, Ngeh Koo Ham C.C: 1)
The National Chairman, DAP Malaysia
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* Ngeh was accompanied by Fong Po Kuan, MP for Batu Gajah
and Thomas Su, Perak DAPSY Chief
** Suhakam Commissioner, Dr Abdul Monir Yaacob, who had
received the official complaint from the DAP Perak delegation, promised that the
complaint would be considered at the full Suhakam Board meeting on Monday, 10th
June 2002