The human rights commission (Suhakam) had started its probe into the ‘excessive force’ allegedly used by the police against residents during a fracas at Bandar Mahkota Cheras (BMC) last month.

Malaysiakini reporter Syed Jaymal Zahiid was among 11 witnesses called in this morning to give a statement.

Syed Jaymal said the preliminary investigations are being conducted by complaints and inquiry office Adeline Samsudin and will run into next month.

syed jamal arrest protes 290108 statement “I was told that the police and Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) will be called in to testify and give their statements later this month or early next month,” said Syed Jaymal who had filed a news report on May 28 incident.

“I was asked about what happened, what car I drove, whether I saw those beaten getting medical treatment. I gave them all the facts I had.”

Commissioners Zaitoon Othman, Khalid Ibrahim and Chiam Heng Keng will conduct the public inquiry late next month.

In the incident, mechanic Chang Jiun Haur was repeatedly kicked and beaten by some 20 FRU personnel armed with batons.

Chang, his sister and two friends were driving away from the site of the barricade about 11.30pm, when their car was surrounded by police personnel who had earlier dealt with a fracas involving BMC residents.

mahkota cheras fru assault youth victim chang jiun haur 100608 A high-ranking police officer at the scene claimed that Chang had run over a FRU personnel with his car.

Chang has since been charged with reckless driving under Section 42 of the Road Transport Act 1987. He has claimed trial and posted bail of RM3,000 pending the hearing on Aug 7.

Up to then, BMC residents had been involved in a long-running stand-off between the developer of the housing estate and highway concessionaire Grand Saga over a toll-free access road.

The highway concessionaire had erected a barricade across the road, but residents had removed it several times in protest.

On May 30, after the fracas, the federal government ordered the concessionaire to keep the road open.

This will Suhakam’s sixth probe since its inception in 2000. Its previous public inquiries were into:

• the Kesas Highway incident (2001)

• conditions faced by Internal Security Act detainees (2002)

• alleged police mistreatment of villagers in Kundasang, Sabah (2004)

• death of S Hendry while in police custody (2006)

• alleged police violence in dispersing protesters in the ‘Bloody Sunday’ incident (2006)

SPECIAL REPORT: The Grand Saga in Cheras