The Malaysian Insider

IPOH, March 30 – Police arrested DAP’s Tebing Tinggi assemblyman Ong Boon Piaw here last night in connection with a DVD video on the “democracy tree”.

Ong was arrested for allegedly violating the Film Censorship Act 2002 for “manufacturing, circulating, distributing, and displaying the content of the DVD without first getting a ‘B’ certificate from the Film Censorship Board”.

“We were doing the sneak preview for the DVD of the coup d’etat in Perak. After the speakers gave their speeches, we played the DVD content at 10.30pm. Then a police officer came and told me that the DVD does not have any B certification from the censorship board, that’s why they needed to make the arrest,” Ong told the Malaysian Insider.

The “democracy tree” refers to the rain tree outside the State Assembly where the ousted Pakatan Rakyat government held an emergency sitting when it was locked out of the state government complex.

In a phone interview with the Malaysian Insider, DAP Supremo Lim Kit Siang lambasted the arrest, calling the heavy-handed police action deplorable and signs of what to expect under Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s regime.

“Latest example of the increasing intolerance towards fundamental liberties like freedom of speech, thought and expression in Najib’s Malaysia!” the Ipoh Timur MP wrote in his blog, referring to incoming prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

“Definitely this is part of the growing repression in the country with Najib taking over as the prime minister. It must be something that must be deplored of attacks on fundamental liberties on all fronts, the freedom of assembly and expression, of communication, of association.

“Hardly a day passes without some incident undermining fundamental liberties, which is unheard of in the tenure of Abdullah’s premiership. This has cast a very dark shadow over the country with the formal takeover as prime minister by Najib. I call on Najib to explain why there is a crackdown on all fronts against human rights and fundamental liberties,” he said.

Lim also vowed that the DAP would take on the authorities and tell all Malaysians about the illegal, undemocratic and unethical power grab in Perak.

“The very fact that they have acted like that shows that they know that they are in the wrong, they are afraid of the message that is being put out to the people and it is an admission of guilt,” he said.

Menglembu Assemblyman Lim Pek Har bailed Ong from the Pekan Baru police station at 1.10am.

“I will bring out the DVD to show again but maybe in another form, we want all Malaysians to see it,” Ong said. “Maybe we will upload it to YouTube and make people witness the content inside the DVD,” he said.

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