Saturday, June 18, 2011

Seatbelt 'offender' lodges complaint at Bukit Aman

Photo from http://www.merdekareview.com
News from: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/167220 (By Regina Lee, 17/6/2011)
The bank manager, arrested for not wearing a seat belt, has filed a complaint with the Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar about his treatment at the hands of a traffic police in Malacca. Adding to the tit-for-tat exchange, 26-year-old Hiew Kok Ming, claimed that he had been very cooperative with the policeman concerned but the latter had 'failed to control his emotions and ego'. "As a result, I was accused with a false report by the policeman and had to stay in the police lock-up for three days," he said. After his three-day ordeal in the lockup, he was released unconditionally and without police bail.
This morning together with Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng, Hiew was at the national police headquarters at Bukit Aman, Kuala Lumpur to hand over his letter of complaint to the IGP.
In the May 28 incident at about 9.30pm, Hiew was driving an MPV together with four friends after a birthday celebration in Malacca when he was flagged down by a lone traffic policeman for not wearing his seatbelt. He said that he was detained because he annoyed the police officer by not immediately producing his IC and for taking his photo, however the police had initially investigated him for obstructing a government officer from discharging his or her duty.
Lu, gua language offends 'offender'
"The policeman said that I had yelled 'Lu apa kuasa mahu ambil gua punya lesen dan IC?' at him (What authority do you have to take my driving licence and IC?). "That is absolutely not true. He made it seem like I am some Chinese boy who can't speak Malay properly," said Hiew in fluent Malay while speaking to reporters in Bukit Aman.
"The traffic policeman was alone on a motorcycle. Of course I was hesitant to show my IC. What if he had robbed us or rode off with my IC?" he said.
He also rejected the Malacca police chief SAC Chuah Gee Lye's version of the events, which claimed that Hiew had refused to produce his IC and driving licence, but instead questioned the authority of the police officer. "Chuah also said that I had scolded the traffic police in Mandarin. It is not true. I was on the phone with (Rasah MP Anthony Loke) about my predicament and we spoke in Mandarin. "Chuah's statement on that is very malicious and mischievous," said Hiew.
He also added for the police not to treat this as a 'political or racial issue' considering that it has been identified that he is a DAP member from the Petaling Jaya Utara branch. "Please just treat this as a case of a normal Malaysian citizen wanting action to be taken," he said.
Related news:
Manager sends letter to IGP over wrongful detention http://www.thestar.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/6/18/nation/8924506&sec=nation
Bank manager denies refusing to give MyKad http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/bank-manager-denies-refusing-to-give-mykad/
IGP to look into police refusal to act on report http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/06/17/igp-to-look-into-police-refusal-to-act-on-report/

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