Hanya 16 peguam tolak usul kutuk keganasan polisMajlis Peguam Malaysia hari ini meluluskan usul tergempar mengutuk dakwaan keganasan polis sewaktu himpunan BERSIH 3.0 pada 28 April lalu.
Badan peguam dengan keahlian lebih 14,000 anggota itu meluluskan usul tersebut yang diajukan presidennya, Lim Chee Wee pada satu mesyuarat agung luar biasa (EGM) petang tadi.
"Majlis Peguam Malaysia memandang serius dan mengutuk penggunaan meriam air dan gas pemedih mata secara berlebihan, salah, dan tanpa had terhadap peserta himpunan," kata Lim Chee Wee sewaktu membacakan sebahagian petikan daripada usul itu selepas selesai mesyuarat.
Seramai 1,270 anggota Majlis Peguam Malaysia hadir ke EGM petang tadi dengan 939 menyokong dan hanya 16 orang menolak usul tersebut.
Lim berkata berbeza dengan polis, peserta BERSIH yang menuju ke arah Dataran Merdeka bersurai secara aman walaupun selepas polis mula melepaskan tembakan gas pemedih mata terhadap mereka.
"Peserta berpusing dan mula beredar. Tiada pijak memijak berlaku. Ia satu bukti bahawa mereka adalah rakyat Malaysia yang cintakan keamanan," katanya.
Lim juga berkata Majlis Peguam menuntut Menteri Dalam Negeri Datuk seri Hishammuddin Hussein dan Ketua Polis Negara Tan Sri Ismail Omar memohon maaf kepada rakyat Malaysia di atas insiden itu.
Majlis Peguam Malaysia turut menuntut agar anggota polis yang melakukan keganasan dikenalpasti dan didakwa.
"Kami gesa polis mengenal pasti anggota mereka yang terlibat dalam kelakuan yang menyalahi undang-undang, terutamanya yang menyerang peserta himpunan, didakwa," kata Lim.
Resolusi yang diusulkan Lim hari ini hasil daripada laporan pemerhatian 78 pemerhati dari Majlis Peguam sewaktu himpunan BERSIH anjuran gabungan 84 NGO itu. -mk
Set up IPCMC, tender apology
KUALA LUMPUR: The Bar Council renewed its calls for the government to set up the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) in the aftermath of the Bersih 3.0 rally.
This key point is one of the 12 resolutions passed at the Bar Council’s extraordinary general meeting (EGM) today.
Out of 1,270 members who attended the EGM, 936 voted in favour of the resolutions, 16 opposed with no abstentions. The rest did not vote on the resolutions.
Speaking at a press conference later, its president Lim Chee Wee said the violence that took place during the rally was clear proof that the government must set up the IPCMC without delay.
“It’s obvious that the police cannot police themselves,” he added.
On April 28, scores of protesters and journalists were assaulted by the police during the mammoth rally.
Minister, police must apologise
Lim also called upon Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar to issue a public apology for the conduct of the police on that day and the indiscriminate use of tear gas and water cannons during the rally.
“The Bersih rally in four other places like Kuantan, Johor, Malacca and Ipoh went on smoothly as the police facilitated and cooperated with the demonstrators. But in Kuala Lumpur, the situation was totally the opposite,” he said.
Although Lim admitted that his monitoring team had confirmed reports that some of the protesters had breached a police barricade, he said that did not justify the police’s high-handed actions.
“The police should have isolated the area and the specific protesters. Instead, they launched attacks on all demonstrators,” he said.
Lim added that the police did not provide enough time frame and space for the crowd to disperse.
“Suhakam recommended that the police should launch tear gas after three warnings at an interval of 10 minutes. But during Bersih, our monitoring team reported that warnings were only given at two minute intervals,” he said.
Lim also urged Hishammuddin and Ismail to apologise to all those who were assaulted on that day, including lawyers and journalists.
“The government should offer due compensation to those who were beaten up by the police,” he added.
On his next course of action. Lim said he would establish a team of volunteers to assist the victims of police brutality.
“We will provide advise to them on how to seek legal redress but it will be up to them whether they want to pursue the case or otherwise,” he added. -FMT
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