E Contrario

I was totally surprised that the police held me in detention on the charge of murder attempt (on who?). In fact, I was totally unaware of my charge even when I was in the lock-up. The policemen who arrested me told me nothing and I assumed it was just the usual illegal assembly charge.

The last action I did before the arrest was resisting the demolition of the last house in the kampong. Togetehr with me were Dr Hatta, Aruchelvam, Dr Nasir, and nearly a dozen other activists.

We accepted that the developer has been granted an injunction to proceed with work. However we contended that the court did not give them the power to destroy property of the kampong people.

Outnumbered by the workers of the contractors and police, we were unable to stop the workers from tearing down the wooden doors and wall of the house. The police watched the assault indifferently. We sat on the floor, arm-linked, when the contractors attacked us.

Then the police joined in to remove us. I sensed that they must have targeted me. I was pulled by three or four policemen. They dragged me by my collar, my cloth torn and all buttons fell off. I was then hauled in the muddy ground with my face down; the policemen twisted my armed and handcuffed me from the back.

The manner of my arrest was vicious and humiliating.

I was brought to the Ampang Jaya police station. There I was left in the CID room for nearly an hour.

At about 13:00hr, I was handed over to the lock-up. It was ‘slightly’ unusual. So far all the recent arrests never ended in lock-up. I refused to go in and demanded an explanation from higher officers.

I waited for another half an hour, Chief Inspector Goh of the CID came. I said I would not go into the lock-up unless: (1) I got my medication for asthma; (2) I meet my lawyer; (3) I hand over my belongings to the lawyers.

Chief Inspector Goh, who claimed to be my fellow Malaccan, promised to comply with my requests. Another long wait, Lateefah came.

I communicated to her what I need, and she told me that I was held under “murder” charge. I laughed thought it was a joke. Throughout our conversation Chief Inspector Goh said nothing about my charge.

I also didn’t know that my car too had been detained for interrogation. That was also told by Lateefah. It is a mad world.

I took me a long while to connect my arrest to the incident of “gate-crushing”. I later heard that there were many different versions of the story circulated. The fictitious account of the event gave the impression that I was an instigator of violence.

To suit the propaganda purpose of the authorities, I was set up to spend my night in the lock-up.

Luckily it turned out to be an opportunity for me to take rest. Since I couldn’t do anything in the solitary cell, I slept for almost 90% of my time. The only problem was the hard cement floor—it caused me aching all over my body.

The only time I was out of my cell was when Chief Inspector Syed Azman called me out to record a 113 statement. As usual, I declined to answer any self-incriminating questions. Syed was nice to me, he just had a job to do.

The next morning, I was sent to Ampang Court to be remanded. In the crowd, I met the young kampong boy Firdaus Shah. He told me that he was arrested together with Razak and Lee Huat Seng. They were sent to Ulu Klang police station. The other two were released and he was sent here.

Magistrate Nurul Husni bt Baharuddin sentenced both of us two-day remand. Lawyers told us that a large crowd was waiting outside. I was smuggled out to escape the cheering team. Police got real nervous with people in group.

Back to the lock-up. No serious interrogation was done, except when a ‘Khawat Cam”. The rest of the time, I was lying idly on the cement floor in a solitary cell.

Not long after the recital of Maghrib prayer from the mosque nearby, a police officer walked in. He opened the iron grill and instructed me to get out. I asked, “keluar terus?”

“Ya, keluar terus.” he said, he seemed more relieved than me.