Cops to come clean on Bersih rally

IGP Ismail Omar vows to reveal the findings of the special committees tasked with probing allegations of police brutality. The videos will also be made public.

KUALA LUMPUR: Investigations into allegations of police brutality during the July 9 Bersih 2.0 rally are almost completed and the findings, including videos, will be made public soon, said Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar.

He said as soon as the six special committees formed to look into the various allegations have submitted their reports, he will make the findings public.

“We don’t want to hide anything, the people have the right to know what happened. We want to know too,” he told reporters at Bukit Aman this afternoon.

Ismail urged the public to be patient as the police will complete the probe as quickly as possible.
“From my observation, there were some videos and photos that were inaccurate and do not show the whole picture. We’re trying to clear that up. Meanwhile, we should not speculate and jump to conclusions,” he said.

It is understood that the police are in the midst of taking statements from those who were involved in making arrests and dispersing the crowd on July 9.

The six committees are tasked to look into the different areas where the rally took place, including Puduraya, Dataran Merdeka, and KLCC.

The focus of the probe, where Bukit Aman is working with the Kuala Lumpur police, is on the accusations that tear gas was fired into the Tung Shin hospital, overall crowd control as well as protester Baharuddin Ahmad’s death.

Ismail said that the teams, formed a week ago, have been working round-the-clock, including gathering evidence from the Internet.

“They are working 24 hours, and I’m confident we’ll come out with the findings soon,” he said.
Ismail urged more people to come forward with evidence, saying that the information can be passed to any police station.

Information can also be channelled to pusatmediapdrm@rmp.gov.my (03-22668321 or 0322668320).