UPDATED
By Adib Zalkapli
PETALING JAYA, Sept 19 - Seputeh MP Teresa Kok was released by police today after a one week detention, and in an immediate reaction she said she would sue the Malaysian government for unlawful detention.
Speaking to reporters at the DAP party headquarters here, the Selangor state executive councillor said she would also take legal action against former Selangor mentri besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo, Utusan Malaysia and Zaini Hassan, who wrote the article containing allegations against her. Kok was released unconditionally today.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar said that she had been released at 1.30pm after investigations showed there was no reason to detain her any further.
The Kinrara assemblyman was detained one week ago, together with Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamarudin and Sin Chew Daily reporter Tan Hoon Cheng. Tan was released after 18 hours.
Kok was detained under the Internal Security Act, which provides for indefinite detention without trial, after she allegedly complained about the volume of the morning call to prayers from a mosque. She has vehemently denied the allegation which surfaced in a Sept 10 article in Utusan Malaysia quoting former Dr Mohd Khir.
The accusation was also refuted by the Kinrara mosque committee chairman, while Kota Raja MP Dr Siti Mariah has lodged a police report against Dr Mohd Khir on this issue.
"They kept questioning me about the Utusan article. I kept denying it," she said. "How can I be considered a national security threat? "It was an abuse of the ISA. Nobody should be held under the ISA."
Kok claimed she was made a scapegoat in the internal squabbles of Umno.
"I see my detention as a ploy by Umno to try to cover up the embarrassment and the outrage of the racist statement made by Ahmad Ismail in Penang," she said at a press conference at the DAP headquarters, here.
"After being detained for seven days under the guise of the so-called investigations, the police failed to produce any evidence or proof of me being involved in the activities of causing racial and religious tension. They were only able to ask me few questions based entirely on the false and malicious article written by Zaini Hassan," she added.
Kok said that she would fight for Zaini's release should the writer be arrested under the ISA.
"I don't think he should be arrested under the ISA, he should be charged in court," she added.
She was also upset with the police for keeping her for seven days, but were only interested in asking her three questions; her involvement in the petition to Bandar Kinrara mosque, whether she made the statement for 30 percent of the allocation for Selangor Islamic Department be given to other non-Islam religious bodies and the issue of Jawi wording road signs in Kuala Lumpur.
"They asked me the questions the next day I was arrested, and I typed all my answers on their computer," she added.
"I asked them to check my blog, where I put up all my speehes, I am very transparent. It is ridiculous to keep me for seven days just for the three questions," said Kok.
During the first two days she was held in an unknown location, the Seputeh MP was also denied reading material, but was subsequently given a copy of the Bible after she insisted on it.
She also claimed that her arrest has eroded foreign investors' confidence in the country.
"The day I was arrested, I was speaking to Chinese investors, and I was supposed to meet another group the next day, I don't know how to face them now," said Kok.
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