Koh backs peaceful rallies, says cops should act fairly

Koh hopes the police look fairly at demonstrations. - Bernama pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 6 — Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon today urged the police to act fairly in dealing with public demonstrations because of the perception that they are more effective in cracking down on rallies than on crime.

Koh’s criticism is the first from a minister in Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s administration, and comes in the face of mounting public concern over the neutrality of the police.

His remarks also come a day after police arrested 16 people in a peaceful candlelight vigil, a little more than a week after standing by while a group of Malay-Muslims threatened violence and stamped and spat on a sow’s head to protest the relocation of a Hindu temple to their neighbourhood.

Koh said the public was questioning why the cow-head protestors were not arrested.

His words appeared to be at odds with that of his Cabinet colleague Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, the Home Minister, who had defended the police last week.

“Current public perception towards the police is that they are more effective in catching demonstrators than criminals,” said Koh today.

“People who carry out candlelight vigils and people who are sitting in mamak shops wearing black clothes are arrested. I think that is not correct,” he said.

The police have taken a hardline approach by cracking down on dissent, particularly from activists and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) supporters.

During the height of the Perak constitutional crisis, IGP Tan Sri Musa Hassan had even said that those wearing black T-shirts would be detained. Opposition activists had adopted the wearing of black T-shirts as a form of protest against what they said was an assault on democracy.

The police, Koh said, should come up with standard procedures to deal with public demonstrations to show they were fair.

He suggested police allow peaceful demonstrations, and use video cameras to record such rallies to later arrest those who break the law.

“If the police act harshly even before there are signs of aggression, not only will this bring displeasure to the group demonstrating but also to the public, who will view this as being unfair,” he said.

He said the police should only act if there were signs of violence erupting.

The police have also come under severe criticism after riot cops used tear gas to break up a mass rally to protest an anti-ISA rally last month.

Scenes of riot police assaulting opposition lawmakers and chasing peaceful protestors through the streets of Kuala Lumpur had severely damaged Najib’s reform image.

After the anti-ISA protests, Najib had suggested that demonstrations be held behind closed doors at stadiums instead.