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15th December 2008, Bangi Estate, Selangor
CPO of Selangor, Khalid Abdul Bakar went on a rescue mission to save the children from the "bad" JERIT. In his noble mission, he used massive police force in Rawang and Kajang to arrest all participants of the JERIT cycle for change campaign. He says that he wants to unite the "terrified" children back to their parents.
In Rawang, 56 people were arrested including 27 below the age of 18. The arrest did not result in 27 parents knocking in the police doorsteps but instead, more than 500 people demonstrated in the rain calling for everyone to be released. The CPO was shouted at for his action which created more anger rather than relief.
In Bangi estate, where I was , there was a 5 hour stand-off with the police. The police armed with around two dozen plain cloths policemen, 2 police trucks and many uniformed policemen waited at the entrance of the estate, waiting to arrest all those who cycled and they wanted to determine their age. In fact, the policemen, a huge group of them followed the team. When I finally asked the ground commanding officer ASP Helmy, he admitted that they wanted to arrest those below the age of 18 under the child act. They wanted to put them in trucks and bring them to the police station. Later the deputy OCPD made a more stupid confession. He said that the police will arrest first and then only investigate. This cowboy style of policing means the police are acting unlawfully.
We objected and said that we will surrender them ourselves. The police also were very reluctant to go into the private premise to make the arrest. Besides that, a huge group of people were waiting to defend the participants. The police were worried and agreed to our proposal that we surrender them ourselves. We later asked for lunch to be served first as well as that we will get them to the station by bus. Later Edmond Bon and his legal team came. More negotiation was done and the police was now very secretive but had a tough time to arrest and there was a stand-off and the people were growing in numbers. Police initially decline to confirm that they will be making arrests.
Finally the police backed off and the people were allowed to move out of this estate. We used the bus though the police wanted us to cycle. They had their plan but we had ours. By now , we have learned about the arrest in Rawang and was sure that this is a directive from the top. We moved next to West Country Dewan. Once again a huge police presence. Once again it made a lot of people come out and observe what is happening. The police truly give us the publicity we need.
That night, we followed closely the development in Rawang. Meanwhile Cikgu Lee hosted us for dinner. It was a good dinner and the participants really enjoyed themselves. The arrest did not take place in Kajang but the arrest in Rawang made us rethink our route because we just have another 3 days to go.
The CPO mission fails – 16 December 2008
Today the CPO mission fell flat. The parents who came from the North side nearly broke the Rawang police gate. The were really upset with the police for arresting their children. The police, the welfare officers all got a blasting from the angered family members. When the kid and their parents came out, they were very much intact. The received huge applause. The children and their parents agreed that they will cycle on. They also wanted to sue the CPO. This was a huge blow for the CPO.
In Kajang, the team which spend most of the time in Putrajaya site seeing ended the day by a huge numbers mobilized to the station while parents of those below 18 lodged a police report against the police and also furnished them with consent letter from the parents.
It was a slap in both cheeks for the CPO. Both the north and south team have survived this ordeal and are now determined to complete their mission
2.40am, Taman Jasmin 17 Dec 2008
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