DAP lawmaker claims treated like a criminal by cops during Kg Hakka arrest
(MM) – DAP MP Anthony Loke has complained over his treatment by the police during an arrest for protesting against the demolition of Kampung Hakka in Mantin, Negri Sembilan yesterday.
The Seremban MP claimed that although he was merely conducting his duties as a representative of his constituents, the police treated him like a criminal.
“In discharging my duty as a wakil rakyat, today I was treated like a criminal by the police. Handcuffed, urine test, DNA sampling, fingerprints recording and the worst, photographed with the report number at my chest. Feel humiliated,” he said on his Facebook page here.
Two MPs and four assemblymen from DAP were arrested yesterday in Kg Hakka, Mantin for protesting against the demolition of the decades-old village.
Besides Loke, the lawmakers were Rasah MP Teo Kok Seong, Nilai assemblyman Arul Kumar Jambunathan, Bahau assemblyman Chew Seh Yong, Senawang assemblyman P. Gunasekaran, and Temiang assemblyman Ng Chin Tsai.
Another wave of arrests afterwards saw human rights watchdog Suaram’s executive director E. Nalini and at least six other activists and villagers detained, reported news portal Malaysiakini.
Their arrests follow an earlier arrest of Parti Sosialis Malaysia’s (PSM) secretary-general S. Arutchelvan and an activist from NGO Jaringan Rakyat Tertindas. All of them were brought to the Mantin police station.
The latest report by PSM yesterday alleged 19 people including lawmakers, activists and villagers were arrested and brought to the Mantin police station. All of them had been released by yesterday evening.
On September 30, 11 activists from PSM and Jerit, including Arutchelvan, were arrested for allegedly hindering the development in the village.
According to media reports, there were 40 Chinese families living in the 30-acre area, some of them claiming they had been there for six generations. Their land had then been sold to a developer by the state government for a new township project.
The residents of Kg Hakka had been ordered to evacuate their houses in November 2011 by a developer, but in September 2012 Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had interfered against the demolition.
However, the Seremban High Court had issued an eviction notice to the villagers in August this year, causing the developer to start construction in September.
