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©Malaysiakini
(Used by permission)
by Beh Lih Yi
Ex-deputy home minister Megat Junid Megat Ayob had ordered for an Umno Youth-led
mob to stop an international conference on East Timor 11 years ago, a key
witness in the ‘Apcet II’ suit told the court today.
Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, who was then Umno Youth secretary and had led the
mob, also had the court in stitches when he revealed he was given a ‘nasi kandar’
treat by the police after the incident.
He was the seventh plaintiffs’ witness in the RM83 million civil suit filed by
36 local activists and journalists against the Malaysian government and several
police officers for wrongful detention and police negligence.
The 43-year-old - who had tendered a public apology over his role in the mob in
2001 - has since joined the Opposition after he was sacked by Umno in 1998. He
was also the ex-Lunas state assemblyperson where he contested on the PKR ticket.
Megat Junid’s instruction
In his testimony at the Kuala Lumpur High Court this morning, he recalled that
the instruction to disrupt the conference was given to him by Megat Junid in a
meeting held at the latter’s office.
Also present were Youth leaders from other BN component parties - MCA, MIC and
PPP, as well as Umno’s Batu division head Azman Atar and several others whom he
could not identify.
“Megat Junid started the meeting by telling us that a group of NGO activists
will organise a seminar on East Timor in Kuala Lumpur. He said Malaysia’s stand
is that the seminar is not permitted, fearing that we will be seen as
interfering into problems in Indonesia,” he told the court.
“Megat Junid asked BN Youth to undertake the responsibility to stop the seminar
as he said the government’s stand must be respected. I was asked to lead this
task in my capacity as the Umno Youth secretary since the Umno Youth chief and
vice-chief were abroad then,” he said.
“Megat Junid said Azman will head another group who will also be there. He said
matters related to the police have been arranged and the police will arrive at
the seminar hall in 30 minutes, where everything will be settled then.
“He added that a few of us might be arrested in this task,” Saifuddin told the
court.
At this juncture, plaintiffs’ counsel Ranjit Singh asked Saifuddin to elaborate
on Megat Junid’s instruction.
Ranjit: Did Megat Junid tell you how to stop the conference?
Saifuddin: Megat Junid asked me to mobilise BN Youth members. Secondly, he told
me - as the head of the Barisan Bertindak Rakyat Malaysia (BBRM, the mob) - to
meet with the Apcet II organisers at the hotel and tell them to stop the
conference. Megat Junid said if the organisers refuse, I am to switch off their
PA system.
Ranjit: You said “matters related to the police have been arranged”, what does
that mean?
Saifuddin: Megat Junid said in carrying out this task, few (BN Youth) members
and I will be arrested but he told us not to worry because everything will be
over if I can successfully perform the duty.
Judge Wan Adnan Muhamad interjected: So Megat Junid only ordered you to switch
off the PA system?
Saifuddin: Yes.
Asked to elaborate on Azman’s role, the witness said the former was known to be
“an aggressive person and have a wide networking including those linked to the
kaki-kaki pukul (gangsters)”.
Participants unhappy
Continuing his testimony, Saifuddin said on the day of the incident, he and
about 300 BN Youth members had gathered at a stadium close to the conference
venue at 8am and after he briefed the members, they marched towards the hotel.
He said many other BN Youth members were already present outside the hotel when
they arrived and the Federal Reserve Unit personnel were stationed at the hotel
entrance.
“As the number of those gathered grew, some of them had already broke through
the FRU barrier and went up to the conference venue,” he said, adding that he
also followed suit.
“As we arrived in the conference room, the door was closed and some of us tried
to open the door. After it was opened, we went inside the room. The dining
tables were scattered,” he added.
According to Saifuddin, he and Tajuddin Rahman - who is now Pasir Salak Umno
division head - took turns to ask the conference participants to disperse while
the police led by Dang Wangi OCPD Zainal Abidin Ali only arrived about an hour
later.
“I overheard there were participants who were unhappy with our presence and
asked the police to instruct us to leave the conference so that they could
proceed with the conference. I objected and told Zainal that we will only leave
after the conference is halted and the participants had left.
“Zainal then told me that I was arrested,” he told the court. Apart from him,
several other Umno Youth leaders were also arrested.
Asked what happened at the police station, Saifuddin said the police recorded a
statement from him but the process was not completed.
“They asked for my name, position and address. As I was telling them what I was
doing at the conference venue, another police officer invited me to another room
where nasi kandar was served,” he said to the amusement of those present in
court.
He was released after the nasi kandar treat. Saifuddin was charged in court
later for disrupting the conference. He pleaded guilty and was fined RM1,500.
The hearing was adjourned to Aug 15-16 as the team of federal counsel had
requested for another date to cross-examine Saifuddin. The court will also
continue with the cross-examination on the sixth witness, R Sivarasa.
Irrelevant questions
Earlier, Senior Federal Counsel Iznan Ishak objected to three questions in
Saifuddin’s witness statement explaining why the latter was sacked from Umno in
1998 and his current political involvement.
Justice Wan Adnan upheld Iznan’s arguments that the questions were irrelevant to
the case.
On Nov 9, 1996, over 100 people - including 10 journalists - were arrested on
the opening day of the Second Asia Pacific Conference on East Timor (Apcet II),
held to discuss human rights abuses in East Timor and its struggle for
independence from Indonesia.
As the conference was about to begin, 400 members from the Umno Youth-led BBRM,
or Malaysia’s People’s Action Front, broke down the doors of the conference
halls, threw chairs and verbally and physically abused the participants.
Police then moved in to arrest the participants who were detained between one
and six days, while 40 foreign participants were deported.
Online daily malaysiakini chief executive officer Premesh Chandran and
editor-in-chief Steven Gan, both then journalists at The Sun, are also
among the plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs have named the government, then Inspector General of Police Abdul
Rahim Mohd Noor and two senior police officers - then Kuala Lumpur chief police
officer Ismail Che Rose and then Dang Wangi OCPD Zainal Abidin Ali - as
respondents.
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Circular No 231/2010: 2nd Asia Pacific Regional Forum Conference
