SUHAKAM Public Inquiry on "Bloody Sunday" - Day 2

SUMMARY OF PROCEEDINGS

Today (6 October 2006) is the 2^nd day of the inquiry. The inquiry will continue on the following days:

October 11, 12, 13, 16, 17 & 18

Watching Brief with Observer Status:

1. Sivarasa Rasiah - Bar Council Legal Aid Centre (KL)
2. M. Moganambal - Bar Council Legal Aid Centre (KL)
3. Chan Weng Keng - Bar Council Legal Aid Centre (KL)
4. Chen Hong Lynn - Bar Council
5. ASP Alaudeen bin Abd Majid - Secretariat of IGP (Inspector General of Police)

Watching brief:

1. Sheena - Bar Council Legal Aid Centre (KL)
2. Chang Lih Kang - SUARAM

Today’s witnesses:

1. Lance Corporal Mohd Nasarudin Hashim (continue)

2. Yap Weng Keong

3. Dr. Hatta Ramli

4. Lim Sok Swan

5. Liu Tian Khiew (Ronnie)

FRU personnel: the crowd was always calm

The 3^rd witness, Lance Corporal Mohd Nasarudin Hashim (Nasarudin) continued to testify in the second day of the public inquiry. He was scrutinized in detail by the inquiry panel on the 17-minute video. Nasarudin was the FRU personnel who recorded the video on 28 May.

3^rd witness: I never expected the water cannon to be unleashed so suddenly

Nasarudin told the panel that there were around 40 FRU personnel present on 28 May 2006. They were armed with M16 rifles, .38 pistols and riot guns (tear gas launcher). Answering questions from the panel members and lawyer, Nasarudin repeated at least 4 times that the crowd was calm and never turned unruly at any point of time during the video footage.

One of the panel members, Dato’ Choo Siew Kioh noticed that there is a 4-minute gap in the video footage. Responding to this, Nasarudin denied that there was a cut or any editing was done on the video. He told the panel that he merely switched off the camera to save battery.

Besides, Nasarudin also told the inquiry panel that he heard the warning given by the police officer on the command vehicle. The warning sounded like this “Bersurai serta-merta, atau kami akan gunakan kekerasan” According to the FRU personnel, the crowd was calm after the warning was given.

Nasarudin also told the panel that he never expected the water cannon to be unleashed so suddenly. From the video footage shown in the inquiry, the police unleashed water cannon in less than 3 minutes after the OCPD was seen giving another 5 minutes to the crowd.

The following is the chronology of the video footage:

11:01:27 The OCPD was seen giving 5 more minutes to the crowd.

11:03:09 Amaran terakhir (last warning) was announced.

11:04:07 Water cannon were unleashed.

4^th witness: I saw Zahir Hassan being kicked on his waist by the FRU

Yap Weng Keong is the 5^th witness of the inquiry. He is a member of Parti Keadilan Rakyat. Yap Weng Keong (hereinafter referred to as Yap) is working in a legal firm. He is among the 20 protestors who were arrested during the protest held on 28 May.

Yap told the inquiry panel that he could see police making some announcements when Ronnie Liu was addressing the crowd. However, he could not hear clearly what the police was trying to convey because a helicopter was hovering above the crowd.

When the crowd was dispersing, Yap saw Zahir Hassan was hit by the FRU. It happened just beside him. According to Yap, Zahir was surrounded and kicked by FRU personnel, whom he could not recognize. Zahir was kicked on his waist and fell on the ground.

Yap was subsequently arrested. To date, he is not prosecuted.

5^th witness: Police practised double standards

Dr. Hatta Ramli is the 5^th witness of the public inquiry. He was the main organizer of the anti fuel price hike gathering on 28 May. Dr. Hatta Ramli (hereinafter referred to as Hatta) is also the treasurer of PAS (Parti Islam Se-Malaysia). He told the inquiry panel that he could not hear any warning from the police because the helicopter was hovering dangerously low and caused lots of noise. Hatta said the helicopter could crash when Dato’ Vohrah asked why is he so worried about it.

When the water cannon were unleashed, Hatta went down the stairs of the LRT station to seek shelter with his 7-year old son. After a moment, he went up again and saw FRU personnel started shoving people by their shields.

Hatta told the panel that he saw two melees when the crowd was dispersing. He saw Zahir Hassan was down on the ground, surrounded by several FRU personnel. Besides, he also saw another commotion at different scene, but he could not see the face of the victim. After crossing the main road (Jalan Ampang), he saw a “bloody” guy, who is known as Amran. He advised Amran to consult doctor at a nearby clinic.

Hatta condemned the police for practising double standards in permitting demonstrations. He also thinks that the police had an “agenda” on 28 May, because they packed-off immediately after their “attack”, even there were still some people scattered around. It was not a common practice. He termed it as “They come, they hit, and they run!”

6^th witness: I was pushed from behind. FRU hit my friend’s head

The 6^th witness of the public inquiry is Lim Sok Swan. Lim Sok Swan (hereinafter referred to as Swan) is a student activist who spoke in the May 28 gathering. According to her, she has only spoken for less than 5 minutes, before handing over the microphone to the next speaker - Ronnie Liu.

When Ronnie Liu was speaking, Swan saw the FRU started moving. She also saw a police officer on the command vehicle announcing something. However, similar to all the other witnesses, Swan could not hear clearly what was said by the police officer. Swan told the inquiry panel that she saw someone from the crowd gesturing with the police on the truck. Hardly 2 minutes after that, water cannon were unleashed.

In her testimony, Swan told the panel that she was pushed by the FRU from behind. Her friend, Lee Huat Seng, who was telling the FRU that they will disperse, was hit by the FRU on his head. She saw the FRU hit Lee Huat Seng by baton.

7^th witness: The police were hiding their name tags

The last witness of the day, Liu Tian Khiew (better known as Ronnie Liu) was called to testify in front of the inquiry panel. Liu Tian Khiew (hereinafter referred to as Ronnie) is the NGO bureau chief of Democratic Action Party (DAP). He was also the last speaker of the demonstration on 28 May, before the police launched attack on the crowd.

Echoing Dr. Hatta Ramli, Ronnie was also very concern about the helicopter that hovered at a dangerous height. The chair of the panel, Dato’ K.C. Vohrah was shocked when Ronnie told the panel that the helicopter was way below the tip of the twin tower. It was, according to Ronnie, only approximately 80 feet above the road. The helicopter was just above the trees and caused leaves and branches of those trees swaying.

In Ronnie’s testimony, when the water cannon were unleashed, he was still standing on the ladder, delivering speech. He remembered that he did ask the crowd to remain calm. He was drenched. Two policemen came to him and arrested him. He was handcuffed by a plastic cuff. He saw Badrul Hisham was dragged by the police, and some women were harassed. They were shoved by the FRU personnel’s shields.

Towards the end of his testimony, Ronnie made a few complaints. Among others, he feels that the police should exhibit their name tags whenever they are on duty. He was very unhappy with the police who appeared in the 28 May demonstration because most of them were hiding their name tags.

To date, Ronnie has not been charged.

Prepared by,

Chang Lih Kang