Rivals bar Pro-Bersih group from handing memo to cops
UPDATED @ 06:29:43 PM 07-05-2012
Arman said his group had not used force to prevent SAMM from entering Bukit Aman. — File picKUALA LUMPUR, May 7 — An anti-Bersih group today blocked rival Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) from entering Bukit Aman to deliver a memorandum demanding police action against members of the force for alleged brutality during the April 28 rally.
Some 20 people who described themselves as members of a pro-government group called Suci surrounded a 10-man delegation from SAMM this afternoon outside the entrance to the police headquarters and heckled them while the latter submitted the memorandum to the waiting police personnel in the public car park outside.
“Jewish dogs!” and “Traitors!” were shouted by the Suci members, made up of members from the Malaysian Army Veterans Association and Suara Anak Muda 1 Malaysia (SAM1M), as they blocked SAMM’s path.
“We felt it was our responsibility to prevent these groups that do not trust in the police to tarnish Bukit Aman,” SAM1M President Armand Azha Abu Hanifah later told The Malaysian Insider.
“They deserve to only enter the dirty parking lot.”
Arman insisted that no force was used to prevent SAMM from entering Bukit Aman as he had earlier talked SAMM president Badrul Hisham Shaharin into submitting the memorandum in the parking lot instead of the police station.
Among the demands in the five-page memorandum submitted by SAMM were for the police to investigate allegations of brutality its officers, as well as those claiming it deliberately infiltrated the ranks of demonstrators to act as agents provocateurs and spread rumours on the death of a traffic police officer to rile up those on duty during the rally.
The memorandum was signed by 28 other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) including Majlis Pimpinan Mahasiswa Nasional, Civil Society Committee LLG, and Jaringan Rakyat Tertindas (Jerit).
The rally calling for electoral reform was initially planned for the historic Dataran Merdeka but authorities had secured a court order on April 27 barring its use for public assemblies until May 1, forcing Bersih supporters to splinter into groups.
Despite an initially peaceful start to the rally, Bersih’s third since 2007, police would later take measures that are now being condemned as more brutal than those employed during last year’s tumultuous July 11 Bersih 2.0 rally.
