KUALA LUMPUR, 12 Feb 2009: Police will call five organisers of a Tuesday gathering staged in front of the office of DAP chairperson Karpal Singh to record their statements, said Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Muhammad Sabtu Osman.
“The five have been identified and will be called this week to have their statements taken,” he told reporters at his office here yesterday.
Muhammad Sabtu said so far, 89 police reports had been made against the Bukit Gelugor Member of Parliament (MP), out of which 10 were received in Kuala Lumpur.
He refuted Karpal’s claim that police colluded with the organisers by allowing the gathering to take place without a permit, on a directive from higher-ups.
“We did not collude with any quarters irrespective of colour as our duty is to maintain peace and order in the country.
“The allegation is not true. If it’s a peaceful gathering, we will not take harsh action. But in this case, we controlled the situation to safeguard his (Karpal’s) property and staff and no untoward incident happened,” he said.
He also regarded Karpal’s allegation that no action would be taken against the demonstrators as baseless.
“We will definitely call the organisers of the gathering but it does not mean that they will surely be arrested or charged. This depends on our investigation.”
On Tuesday, about 200 people from the Federal Territory and Selangor Umno Youth staged a walk to Karpal’s office in Jalan Pudu to hand him a memorandum. — Bernama
