Apcet II: Police deny conspiring with gov't

Former Dang Wangi OCPD Zainal Abidin Ali denied that he, the police and the government had conspired with the demonstrators to stop the Second Asia Pacific Conference on East Timor (Apcet II), which saw the wrongful detention of 100 participants, including 10 journalists.

The arrest of the 100 participants was in pale comparison to the arrest of seven demonstrators, comprising four Umno Youth members who were in the same hall and three outside the hotel.

Today's hearing also saw the name of Selangor executive councillor Elizabeth Wong cropped up when it was mentioned by Justice Wan Adnan Muhamad who is presiding the case.

Wong, 37, who is being dogged by her nude photo fiasco since Monday, is one of the plaintiff in the RM83 million suit. She was one of the participants who was arrested and had also testified earlier during proceedings.

Wan Adnan also asked counsel and senior federal counsel Iznan Ishak on the possibility of both parties reaching an out-of-court settlement in the suit.

Ranjit indicated the final offer stood at RM10 million compensation for the 36 plaintiffs.

Wan Adnan, a Court of Appeal judge, has been presiding over the case since the trial started about three years ago.

Ex-district police chief Zainal Abdin ( photo, right ), 64, who took the stand today, said the arrests of the participants at the conference was as a result of them ignoring his three warnings to disperse.

The former Dang Wangi OCPD, who is the third defence witness to testify in the RM83 million Apcet II suit, said he had advised the participants to leave the hall and stop having a meeting as they were endangering themselves.

"The rioters below and outside the hall were monitoring the situation. I fear they would be threatened. However, they did not follow my advice and instead a Chinese man (Tian Chua, PKR information chief) delivered a speech to the participants," he said.

Arrested under the Police Act

"I approached the Chinese man to advise him to stop the conference but he continued on with his speech. Following this, I informed the participants through the loud hailer that the conference was disrupting peace.

"I ordered them to stop and disperse. I told them this in Bahasa Melayu and English that they could be arrested under the Police Act."

Zainal said after giving three warnings, there were no signs of anyone leaving the hotel's hall and hence he ordered chief inspector Tengku Hamzah Tengku Abdullah to conduct the arrests.

He said following the arrests, the men were transported to the Tun HS Lee police station, while the women were brought to the Wangsa Maju police station where they were held in lock-ups.

The witness said this in his witness statement which was submitted in court today.

Meanwhile, during cross-examination by counsel Ranjit Singh, the witness denied suggestions made by the counsel that he, along with the police had conspired with the government and Umno Youth demonstrators to plan to stop the conference.

The former Dang Wangi OCPD also denied Ranjit's suggestions that he did not give three warnings to the participants to disperse as stated in his witness statement.

This went contrary to the police report that Zainal filed following the arrest where he stated that he issued one warning, and following that the arrests were made.

Gov't did not sanction conference

"I remember I issued three warnings to the participants to disperse before giving the order to make the arrests," the former Dang Wangi OCPD said.

"I know the police report does not reflect this and this omission is not detrimental. I remember I gave the three warnings."

Zainal, said while he was aware the government had not sanctioned the conference to be held, he did not give any directives for it to be stopped or help plan with Umno Youth to stop the conference.

"I got to know about it from media reports but I did not make any such orders for it to be stopped," he said.

The witness also denied suggestions made by Ranjit that he or the police knew that Umno Youth had planned to storm the Asia Hotel, the venue for the Nov 9, 1996 conference, and cause the disturbance.

Zainal said he did not know the exact dates of when and where the conference will be held.

Following this, Wan Adnan rapped Zainal on how he could not know the venue of the conference as he had the men, including the Special Branch at his disposal, to find out the details.

"You got to know from the media that the government did not support the conference on Nov 6, 1996. And you know the conference was still to go on despite this as it was also reported in the media. You did not bother to check?" the judge said.

"I do not know how you do your job. If I were you I would ask my officers to give me an answer within two or three hours later and not wait for three days until the conference start," Wan Adnan quipped.

Protestors broke down doors

Meanwhile, former Kuala Lumpur police chief Ismail Che Ros, the first defendant in the suit, and the second defence witness testified that he was on holiday on the day of the incident.

"I only got a briefing from Zainal Abidin over the arrest when I returned to work on Monday," he said, adding he supported the actions taken by Zainal Abidin as it was according to the provisions of the law.

Besides Iznan, senior federal counsel Khairul Nizam Mohd Kamal is also representing the government in the suit, filed by 36 local activists and journalists.

In addition to the government, and Ismail, those also named in the suit were Zainal and Tengku Hamzah.

Over 100 people - including 10 journalists - were arrested on the opening day of Apcet II, which was held to discuss human rights abuses in East Timor and its struggle for independence from Indonesia. ( see chart below )

As the conference was about to begin, 400 members from the Umno Youth-led Malaysia’s People’s Action Front, broke down the doors of the conference hall, threw chairs and verbally and physically abused the participants.

Police then moved in to arrest the participants, claiming they had refused to disperse. The participants were detained between one and six days, while 40 foreign participants were deported.

Star witness Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, who was then Umno Youth secretary, had earlier testified that the mob was acting on the instructions of then Deputy Home Minister Megat Junid Megat Ayob to stop the conference.

SPECIAL REPORT: Apcet II trial