An aide to Seputeh MP Teresa Kok and three of this friends were yesterday arrested by police in Cameron Highlands after they were found wearing Bersih 2.0 T-shirts - in their hotel room.

According to reports, DAP activist Teh Hoong Keat and his friends were on holiday and in their hotel room when police officers knocked on their door last night and arrested them.

They had not yet gone out with showcasing their T-shirts with the logo of the coalition advocating clean and fair elections.

The hotel receptionist, apparently, had taken the initiative of calling the local police to alert them of the youth wearing the tees.

Teh and his companions were released a few hours later after recording their statements at the nearby police station.

'Police state'

Their arrest brings the number of persons arrested in the clampdown on Bersih 2.0 following the mammoth rally last Saturday to nine persons.

NONE On Friday, Kuching police arrested lawyer Emeric Teo after he was spotted in a Bersih 2.0 T-shirt while he was having breakfast with Batu Lintang state assemblyperson See Chee How.

Teo had just sat down with about 15 other PKR members and supporters when over a dozen policemen, led by an officer identified as ASP Jamaluddin from the Sekama police station, rushed over and identified themselves.

A day earlier, DAP Bakri MP Er Teck Hwa ( above, left ) was arrested  in Muar for wearing Bersih T-shirt while leading a march in remembrance of Teoh Beng Hock, the aide to a Selangor exco who was found dead after a night of interrogation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

Meanwhile, PKR vice-president N Surendran has blasted the authorities for what he said was its contribution to bringing the country down rapidly into a “police state” over the wearing of Bersih 2.0 T-shirts.

NONE He also cited the disruption of Opposition ceramahs, the failure to release the ‘PSM 6' currently detained under the Emergency Ordinance, the demonising of Bersih and the opposition in government-controlled print and electronic media, the pending criminal charges against persons exercising their democratic rights.

“These are all symptomatic of a breakdown of good governance and the negation of the rule of law,” said Surendran.

According to him,Saturday night in Taman Impian, Kuantan, saw police use “heavy-handed” and “unlawful tactics” to disrupt a ceramah where he was due to speak.

Two large police trucks, police jeeps, patrol cars and over 50 police personnel were deployed in the attempt to intimidate those who wished to attend the ceramah, said Surendran.

When asked why the ceramah was being prevented, the senior officer in charge of the operation said it was up to the police to refuse permission, and provided no other reasons for the refusal to let the ceramah proceed.

“It was also shocking that when I pointed out that this is a democratic country, the acting OCPD replied,’So what, democracy?’

NONE “The police were also aggressive and said,"You jangan cari pasal (Don't look for trouble),"  when we approached them to discuss the matter,” said Surendran ( left, speaking to police ) in his statement.

“Article 10 of the Federal Constitution grants to the rakyat the all-important freedoms of assembly and speech. Both these fundamental rights were unreasonably denied by police authorities on 16 July.

“This makes it clear that the refusal was politically motivated and that there are general instructions from the government or Home Ministry to prevent, obstruct and hinder ceramahs by the opposition,” he added.

“The Prime Ministers's claims while abroad this week that Malaysia is a free and democratic country is thus exposed as a hollow sham.”