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 ©The
Sun (Used by permission)
by Bernard Cheah and Karen Arukesamy
SEBERANG PERAI (Aug 4, 2008) : A 25-year-old female press photographer was
roughed up by some PKR officials while attempting to take pictures of Datuk Seri
Anwar Ibrahim at a ceramah here on last night.
Loh Hoay Hoon of Guang Ming Daily was punched, kicked and held by the
neck in the event at the Seberang Jaya expo grounds here.
"I was bewildered and confused," Loh told theSun
today.
"All I was doing was taking some shots of Anwar before he left the grounds. I
don’t understand why they had attack me like this," she said, choking with tears
and still visibly traumatised.
Loh received outpatient treatment at the Seberang Jaya Hospital later, before
lodging a report at the Seberang Jaya police station at about 3.15am.
She was taken to the hospital again for an additional check-up late this
afternoon.
 Loh said afterr the ceramah had ended, she wanted a few shots of Anwar getting
into his car.
However, an unidentified man, believed to be an Anwar bodyguard, stopped Loh and
pushed her aside, she said.
"I told the man ‘saya hanya buat kerja saya’ (I'm just doing my work),"
she said.
She remembered hearing something like "Jangan kacau, jangan buat susah di
sini." (Don't disturb, don't cause trouble here.)
Then she found herself being hit and held by the neck by the man and several
others, as she was leaving the grounds.
A few other PKR members then tried to hold back the man, apparently to restrain
him.
A scuffle then broke out, as the group that attacked Loh and the one that helped
her shoved each other and traded insults.
Loh said she was also hit on the back of her head by an unknown assailant.
She said she had had an untoward incident with the same man earlier this year,
and had complained to PKR state secretary Abdul Malek Abul Kassim.
"Some reporters have also been pushed by the same individual."
Penang Media Club acting president Zuraida Abdul Rahman condemned the incident.
"All we want to do is just report what happens at a ceramah as it is."
Abdul Malek expressed regret over the behaviour of the official, adding that
stern action would be taken by the party to prevent a recurrence.
He explained that security had to be beefed up as there were death threats made
against Anwar.
Most party officials who act as guards were PKR members and not trained
professionals, he added.
"We really appreciate the job done by members of the media in giving us
coverage," he stressed
National Union of Journalists (NUJ) president Norila Mohd Daud also condemned
the Seberang Perai incident, saying that some members of PKR had become
over-protective of Anwar and nobody knows "what is their reason or what is the
stand of the party."
On July 15, during the televised debate between Anwar and Information Minister
Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek, three photographers were roughed up by security
personnel hired by AgendaDaily, the organiser of the debate.
Police reports were lodged, but there has been no response from the police.
TheEdge executive producer Othman Abu Bakar, whose photographer was one
of those assaulted, said so far they had been questioned by police on what
happened. He wants the police to look into the matter.
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Circular No 297/2008
News-gathering is not just a job; it is an art. It may be better for media persons to identify themselves with the appropriate personnel of the political parties concerned to avoid the hassle of being roughed up by security guards.
All political parties concerned should appoint a group of people to check the credentials of journalists and issue them with tags so that they can do their jobs without such unfortunate incidents.
If security is tight, then issue different coloured tags so long as these arrangements are made known to the security personnel.
We cannot have media people being roughed up by mere security guards. Even members of our police force cannot do such a thing during public demonstrations!
If this is not done, then the day will soon dawn when our media personnel be will an endangered species fit to be adopted by Prince Philip of World Wildlife fame who should set up another organisation along similar lines, only this time for endangered species for the Malaysian media personnel!
Stephen Tan Ban Cheng