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Press Statement 16/12/2008
Today the Selangor CPO claimed that he has saved the children from irresponsible people who are exploiting them and misusing them. And that when the children were asked why they are cycling, they did not know. This statement by the CPO is a blatant lie and misleading the public on the actual situation.
1. The claim of the Selangor CPO about saving the children was a lie as the below 18 years old cyclists have parental consent to take part in this cycling campaign. The children actually refused to say anything to the police officers as they did not want cooperate with the police as they are being detained illegally. The children were also were questioned by police whether they were paid to do this. What is the police trying to proof with these kind of questions?
2. JERIT has been responsible in taking care of the cyclists' welfare since day one. We are not like the CPO who let the children get wet in the rain and then when they tried to find shelter he sent the Light Strike Force to threaten them and intimidate them. They were not given food until 11pm at night and after so much of pressure then only they were give food.
3. The CPO also put the children in the car park and put a yellow tape around them, not allowing them to move around. The children were technically under arrest. Is this how you treat children? Is this how the CPO claims that he is saving the children?
4, The CPO forgot to mention that the children were arrested without the presence of the Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat and the officers from JKM arrived very late at night, As children are not supposed be kept overnight in the police station, but the police kept them there the whole night. How is that for breaking laws?
5. The children also refused to budge to welfare homes as they prefer to be arrested with the JERIT organizers, where some of them were also parents of the under 18 cyclists. The cyclists felt safe with the JERIT organizers rather than with police who continued to intimidate and harass them.
6. Today when the parents arrived in the Police Station, they were not allowed in, and then police insisted on taking statement from each parent before releasing their children. Isn't this a violation? Why do the parents need to give statement? The parents protested and refused to give statement to police and demanded for their children. The police were causing more trauma and agony to the parents of the children.
7. JERIT strongly condemns the unlawful action by the Selangor CPO. His actions were inhumane and violated the rights of JERIT cyclists. His statement about saving the children does not fit as he cause a lot of agony and mental torture for the cyclists.
JERIT sternly asks the police to stop the harassment and intimidation of the JERIT cycling team. The police must be neutral and look after the rights of the people and not violate them . The police should not take political sides and do the biddings of the political masters.
JERIT's campaign is a safe campaign done to highlight the aspiration of the people. So stop lying and harassing the cyclists.
Statement released by JERIT Secretariat :
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