ＭＡＬＡＹＳＩＡ: 4月 2012

2012年4月30日星期一

Media, Police and Bersih 3.0

by Steven Daniel on Monday, 30 April 2012 at 12:40 ·

In my five years as a journalist I've never felt more concern, anger, fear and a multitude of emotions while covering a single assignment than on that fateful Saturday when covering Bersih 3.0. I am writing this to highlight most of what I saw and heard on how the police conducted themselves towards the media during the Bersih rally as their actions call for a serious review on PDRM to avoid such incidents ever occurring in the future.

I was given a free role to roam about to any location during the rally but choose to be close to Dataran Merdeka as I anticipated that area to have the most activity as I anticipated the Bersih and other political leaders to give their speeches.

From my experience covering Bersih 2.0 last year and the Petrol Price hike protest in 2008, I had a feeling the event may end up with tear gas, water cannon, arrests and etc. As such from 12.30pm onwards I chose to go behind the police barricade and be where the uniformed policemen were stationed as we overlooked the crowds packed on the Jalan Tun Perak - Jalan TAR - Jalan Parlimen intersection area.

After the crowds broke through barricade at 3pm, I saw the cops run back about 100m to their awaiting FRU personnel and I, too did not waste a second to follow them as well as I expected the water cannons and tear gas will soon be unleashed on the crowd. Within a few minutes when most of the policeman were close to the FRU personnel, the water cannons were fired. Minutes later, tear gas too was fired at the crowd.

Now, from here onwards, began the danger, threat, assault and abuse experienced by the media personnel including me.

After the tear gas and water cannons stopped temporarily, I saw uniformed cops rush out to chase and apprehend the protestors along Jalan Tun Perak (near Masjid Jamek area). Those arrested were lead back to the Selangor Club where they were being held and possibly be processed before sending them to the temporary detention centre at PULAPOL. I use the word possibly because I was barred entry to the area where the arrested were being detained.

Not being able to get close to that area to find out roughly how many people had been arrested I turned back and was walking to the point the barricade was broken down by the protestors while seeing more people being led by police towards the detention center. But something caught my eye among those being arrested.... A cameraman I recognised who works at a Chinese daily! As I observed and tried to catch what was being said between him and the cop for the next few seconds. I heard him saying in an almost pleading voice that he had run into some building with protestors when the tear gas was fired and was finding his bearing when he got caught. But the cop just didn’t seem to pay heed and continued to lead him towards the detention centre.

Using my own compact camera I tried to snap pictures and videos of those being detained. Quite a number of the younger protestors were being held and pushed along roughly by the police while there were several times I saw protestors who had blood streaming down their face.

When I arrived at the intersection where the barriers were initially broken through by the crowd, I saw more people being rounded up as well as the first of numerous incidents where the protestors were being assaulted by the cops in numbers. Several videographers and cameramen tried to record and snap some photos but a few policemen told us and even shouted at us to stop and put down our equipment. A few more attempts to use my camera to capture video of the arrests were met with a similar response of NO.

Around 4pm I tried to make my way towards the Masjid Jamek LRT station but I was stopped by the police and met with shouts of “balik lah” and warned to put away my camera.

On several occasions, I saw policemen without their Velcro name tags on their uniforms. Only later upon interviewing a photographer colleague of mine, did I figure out why perhaps their name tags were removed.

My colleague said he was snapping photos of cops arresting some protestors at the Masjid Jamek LRT area who were being arrested while being bashed up by a group of policeman who had removed their name tags likely in a bid to avoid identification by the victims (protestors).

One policeman spotted him taking the photos and asked if he was a police photographer but replied that he was from the media. Within a dozen seconds or so, he was surrounded by five uniformed and non uniformed cops and demanded him to hand over his camera. The only thing that saved his equipment from being seized was that he offered to format his memory card in front of them. Despite formatting his memory card, the cops demanded he format another time, only then did they let him go. My colleague did however see a policeman from a distance grabbing a person’s camera, dismantling the camera lens from the camera body and smashing the lens on the ground on the ground before walking away as the man stood in complete shock. My colleague was unsure though if that person was a member of the press.

Another pixman colleague of mine said he was surrounded by over 10 cops at around 7.30pm at the Masjid Jamek LRT area after he was spotted taking photos of police arrests. One of them kicked his leg and another stopping several inches from punching him in the face in an act of intimidation. They demanded for his camera but he said it belonged to his company and cannot hand it over to anyone. They continued to abuse and harass him with one of them dangling a handcuff in front of him and threatened to arrest him. It was in this tense moment when one of them smashed his camera against a wall which resulted in the camera lens being badly cracked. They only left him once they took away his camera memory card.

When he asked why they were doing this to him, one of them shouted back that they heard that three of their cops had died during clashes with protestors. My colleague reasoned that this rumour had perhaps fuelled the cops to become more violent and abusive to any of the Bersih protestors and media personnel they saw loitering in the area where the cops were stationed and arrests were being made.

Flashback

From my perspective in Bersih 2.0 last year, the cops rarely told the media to stop taking photos or video. Sure, they shouted at us to get back or to not interfere with their work. But for us media personnel in Malaysia, we are quite used to that.

My opinion is that the free flow of photos and videos during that rally led to a lot of bad publicity against the cops. Perhaps in a way, to control or limit the number of such images being posted on the web and Youtube , etc the cops had been given instructions to not allow the media to record them while making arrests. But I also believe that no specific instructions were given on how to follow this directive and as such, may have led to the extreme measures used to stop the media from capturing the images and videos.

Why the extreme measure?

There are various other journalists and photographers, even those from foreign news agencies who had complained that their equipments were smashed, seized, arrested, verbally and physically abused, assaulted, kicked, punched, stepped on, pushed, shoved and etc, etc.

Were we, members of the media throwing bottles at the cops? Were we taunting and hurling abuses at the cops? Were we the ones responsible in breaking down the barricade? Were we the people who overturned a police car and etc etc.....

Surely the answer to all the above is a resounding NO. Then in that case, why many members of the media suffered an unprecedented level of aggressiveness from the cops?

I thank God that I personally did not suffer any of the ill fate that fell on other numerous media personnel but I am incensed to hear that such incidents had occurred to my colleagues and other media personnel. Sure, compared to the hundreds of media personnel on duty that day only, only a small number came out saying they were physically and verbally abused, but it was the previously unseen and shocking level of abuse that has raised many concerns and questions.

I am glad that the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has taken a strong stand on this matter and its secretary general V. Anbalagan had called for a probe and explanation by the Inspector General of Police. Even more hearting is a unified call by various media outlets also condemning the rough action on the media.

There are many other horror stories that journalists, photographers and videographers had to endure during the Saturday rally which I am not able to relate in full here but what I have done is merely highlighting the sudden strong arm tactics employed against the media in the recently concluded Bersih 3.0.

On a final note, the purpose of this letter is not to paint a picture that the Malaysian Police force are all bad as I believe we have an effective and efficient crime fighting force as I have worked with them on countless times and have seen the numerous successes they have achieved in combating crime in this country over the years. But this latest incident unfortunately has left a lot to be desired of and I hope the top brass of the police force and the Home Minister set in place a proper ground rule on the police handling of the media and likewise in the future so that we never see a repeat of such incidents.

Sincerely,

Steven Daniel

A NUJ union member attached to The Star.

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Malaysia: Excessive Force Used to Disperse Peaceful Protests

Impartial Investigation Needed of Police Use of Water Cannon, Teargas

April 29, 2012

The use of water cannons and teargas against peaceful protesters shows the Malaysian police were out of control, not the demonstrators. The government should stop patting itself on the back and promptly investigate why unnecessary force was used and punish those responsible.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director

(Bangkok) – The Malaysian government should impartially investigate alleged excessive use of force by police to disperse tens of thousands of peaceful protesters in Kuala Lumpur calling for election reform, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch observed police using teargas and water cannons against peaceful participants on April 28, 2012, at a mass rally held by Bersih (“clean”), the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections, after a small group attempted to breach a police barricade.

Police subsequently arrested at least 471 people, and dozens were injured by beatings or in confrontations with the police. The police on April 29 announced that all arrested have been released, but warned that some demonstrators could be charged in the near future.

“The use of water cannons and teargas against peaceful protesters shows the Malaysian police were out of control, not the demonstrators,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The government should stop patting itself on the back and promptly investigate why unnecessary force was used and punish those responsible.”

In the early afternoon of April 28, tens of thousands of Bersih supporters, many dressed in canary yellow T-shirts, marched towards Kuala Lumpur’s national landmark Dataran Merdeka (Independence Square). Because the authorities had obtained a court order barring Bersih from gathering at Dataran Merdeka, rally participants marched to the edges of the barricaded square for a planned sit-in at 2 p.m.

Around 2:30 p.m., Bersih leader Ambiga Sreenevasan and parliamentary opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim announced the rally had succeeded in its goals and called on the crowd to disperse. Some participants slowly began to depart, but many did not. Around 3 p.m., a small group breached the barricade to Dataran Merdeka. Police responded by firing dozens of teargas rounds not only at those who crossed the police line, but also at the peaceful crowds who were nowhere near the barricaded square. Human Rights Watch observed the police using teargas and water cannons against demonstrators who were running away and groups of people far from the square; this continued until about 7 p.m. The police set up roadblocks and shut down train services in the vicinity, making it difficult for people to leave expeditiously.

A Bersih participant, Lau Ming, 25, told Human Rights Watch in Kuala Lumpur that: “I was very happy today. We were marching peacefully together and then the police used tear gas to intimidate us. We had not done anything wrong.”

The Malaysian government quickly issued a statement that the police had acted properly and that the protest was without major incident. Minister of Home Affairs Hishamuddeen Hussain “commend[ed] the police for their professionalism and the restraint they have shown under difficult circumstances” and said a “group of protesters tried to provoke a violent confrontation with the police.”

“Instead of trying to close the book on the protest, the government should launch an impartial and transparent inquiry into the actions of the police,” Robertson said. “Whether the government likes it or not, there will be future demonstrations and the police will need to do a better job to ensure security and respect people’s rights.”

Some people engaged in violence against the police later in the afternoon and they should be appropriately fined or prosecuted, Human Rights Watch said. These included protesters who overturned a police car after it allegedly hit two demonstrators and others who threw water bottles or other objects at the police.

On April 23, five days prior to the Bersih rally, the Peaceful Assembly Act of 2012 went into effect, allowing the police wide discretion to set the terms under which groups of people can assemble in public. City officials rejected Bersih’s request to use Dataran Merdeka for their rally, citing safety concerns and stating the square could only be used for what authorities consider national events. The city suggested alternatives, but Bersih maintained Dataran Merdeka is a public square for the use of the people. Bersih also rejected alternatives because they stated it was too late to change preparations for the large crowd expected and because the Dataran Merdeka site was more accessible.

On April 27 the police obtained a magistrate’s order barring Bersih from the square and the adjoining streets. The public was warned “not to turn up, attend or take part in any gathering from April 28, 2012 to May 1, 2012.” Prior to April 28, the police also refused Bersih’s request for assistance in crowd management during the rally.

The United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials provides that law enforcement officials shall, as far as possible, apply nonviolent means before resorting to the use of force. Force may be used “only if other means remain ineffective or without any promise of achieving the intended result.” When the lawful use of force is unavoidable, “law enforcement officials shall exercise restraint in such use and act in proportion to the seriousness of the offence and the legitimate objective to be achieved and minimize damage and injury.” In the dispersal of unlawful but nonviolent assemblies, “law enforcement officials shall avoid the use of force or, where that is not practicable, shall restrict such force to the minimum extent necessary.”

In July 2011, police used teargas and water cannons to break up a Bersih mass rally and arrested more than 1,600 people. Following national and international condemnation of the crackdown, Prime Minister Najib Razak set up a bipartisan parliamentary panel, which suggested several changes to the election system. Bersih leaders criticized those changes as inadequate to ensure that the next national elections, expected within a few months, are fair. Bersih has called for the current membership of the Election Commission to resign, for voting rolls to be purged of fraudulent names, and the election to be monitored by international observers.

“The authorities’ use of the new Peaceful Assembly Law to try to prevent, rather than facilitate, the Bersih rally raises serious concerns about the government’s reform efforts more generally,” Robertson said. “The government needs to show that it’s serious about political reform.”