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Mat Sabu: Police knocked into me

Wednesday, 16 November 2011 08:26am

©The Star (Used by permission)
by LOH FOON FONG

KUALA LUMPUR: PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu told the Suhakam public inquiry that a car driven by a policeman knocked him down during the Bersih 2.0 rally.

He said he was a pillion rider and was going to the National Mosque at around noon when an oncoming Waja rammed into his motorcycle.

“I fell and sustained injuries,” he told the inquiry yesterday which is looking into alleged human rights violations during the July 9 rally.

He said the car hit the motorcycle's front lamp near Jalan Travers and he fell on the grass.

When commissioner Prof Datuk Dr Mahmood Zuhdi asked how he knew that he was hit deliberately, Mohamad who is better known as Mat Sabu said: “I was on the correct lane and the car came into my lane from the opposite direction.”

Mohamad said he was put in a Pajero and brought to the Jinjang police station.

At the police station, a doctor referred him to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital and he was later sent back to the lock-up before being released at around 11pm, said Mohamad.

He went to a private clinic and was advised to have knee surgery because his ligament was torn and he had a slight fracture.

When ACP Jamaludin Abdul Rahman asked whether Mohamad received a court notice barring him from entering Kuala Lumpur on July 9, he said he did not.

Witness Hanafi Hawari, 21, said he was at Maju Junction when he was chased by the police, beaten on the head, face and stomach and sprayed with pepper.

Another witness, ASP Aron Din Chean, said he was ordered to catch the people involved in the rally.

“We asked them to disperse a few times but they didn't and continued shouting and heading towards the police team,” said Aron, who added that they then started to arrest those in the crowd.

He said that the thousands who marched from Chow Kit to Maju Junction were shouting and “provoking” the police.

“If left as it was, their numbers would grow and they could attack the police,” he said.

When Bar Council chairman Lim Chee Wee, who acted as an observer, asked Aron whether the crowd had damaged any property or shouted that they would attack the police or others, he said, “No.”

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