KUALA LUMPUR - The police force has received widespread condemnation for not allowing legal representation to eleven candle light vigil participants detained for calling for the state of Perak assembly dissolution here last two nights ago.
Two lawmakers were among those detained and on 20th May called for the Home Ministry to give an explanation over the incident billed as the police being "anti-Constitution" and "anti-civil rights".
Democratic Action Party (DAP) Serdang parliamentary member Teo Nie Ching said the police invoked her Section 28A, subsection 8 of the Criminal Penal Code(CPC) for disallowing her lawyer's presence during the interogation.
In a press conference at the Selangor Chinese Asembly Hall here, Teo however said the special situations which allowed for the police to invoke the provision of the law were not satisfied because there were no "imminent threats" posed by the participants and that the Constitution guaranteed the rights to legal representation.
"If the police kept on invoking Section 28A, subsection 8 (of the CPC) then we might as well have no rights to legal representation," she said noting that the trend for the police to do so is on the increase.
"The Home Minister must explain why were they, (the police) refused to allow us to have legal representation," she said.
State dissolution sought after ruling coalition power grab
Teo said she was "saddened" by the conduct of the police and cited several cases of alleged police misconducts including the recent arrest of lawyers seeking to give their clients their advice.
She said the recent incident only highlighted the need for an "urgent reform" of the police including the formation of the long overdue Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) as suggested by a royal commission in 2004.
The candle light vigil - which was to call for for a state assembly dissolution after the ruling coalition National Front power grab in the Pakatan Rakyat controlled state of Perak in February - started at about 7.30pm on 19th. DAP is one of the Pakatan Rakyat three main parties that currently controlled 82 out of Malaysia 222 parliamentary seats.
The police moved in after participants lighted their candles at about 8.15pm. They were later taken to a police station in Brickfield and then sent to two separate police stations after being segregated according to gender.
They were released with bail at about 4am and were asked to report back June 3rd.
DAP Teratai state assemblywoman Jenice Lee who is also present at the press conference said Section 28A, sub-section 8 should only be applicable when a complainant lodged a report over a counter and not during police investigation especially at the time when the Investigation Officer(IO) was taking a statement.- ES_
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