Apcet II: Not enough time given to disperse, says cop

The last witness in the Apcet II trial told the High Court today that the prosecutor decided not to charge the arrested participants as he was not satisfied they had been given sufficient time to disperse.

Superintendent Zainuddin Ahmad, 46, who was the investigating officer of the case, said once he had completed investigations, he submitted his report to the deputy public prosecutor.

"I handed the report of the investigation in person and recommended that the 60 arrested participants be charged.

"However, the DPP felt that the two-minute warning for the participants to disperse, given by Dang Wangi OCPD Assistant Commissioner Zainal Abidin Ali, was insufficient.

"Hence, the prosecutor's decision not to charge the participants despite my recommendations," Zainuddin said in reply to questions from counsel, Abdul Rashid Ismail.

Zainuddin, who is the eighth defence witness in the RM86 million suit, said he had conducted investigations under section 27A (1) (c) of the Police Act which was for failure to abide by a police order to disperse, and he agreed that OCPD Zainal Abidin was an important witness to the case.

In all, 60 participants were arrested in the hall at Hotel Asia on the opening of the Second Asia Pacific Conference on East Timor - dubbed Apcet II - on Nov 11, 1996.

Along with them, seven Umno Youth demonstrators were also arrested after the movement stormed into the hall in the bid to stop the conference from proceeding.

Meanwhile, Zainuddin admitted to having applied for a seven-day remand order for some of the arrested participants, prompting judge Wan Adnan Muhamad to question the long remand period.

He argued that they should have been released on police bail.

"It is not only the court that accords justice but the police must also be seen to be just to all. We must be God-fearing people," said Wan Adnan, a Court of Appeal judge, who has been presiding over the case since the trial started about three years ago.

To another question from Rashid, the witness said he did not visit the lock-ups where the participants were held but was aware of complaints that the cells were over-crowded. Detainees had also complained of the bad food, he added.

Earlier, in his witness statement, Zainuddin said the 39 male participants were held at the Jalan Stadium police station lock-up while the 20 female participants were held at Wangsa Maju lock-up.

Hall in disarray

In his testimony, Zainuddin said he had gone to Hotel Asia on the day of the incident and found the hall in disarray, with the main door broken down by demonstrators.

"We also seized several equipment from the scene like speakers, microphones, a video projector and audio equipment. The seized items were taken to the Jalan Stadium police station."

Zainuddin on re-examination by senior federal counsel Iznan Ishak, testified that after presenting his investigating papers to the DPP, there was no decision to charge all the participants.

"Hence, they were all released," he said, adding that the participants had to be remanded for between two to four days as there were many questions to ask.

Earlier, another witness Deputy Superintendent Tengku Hamzah Tengku Abdullah, who was responsible for arresting the participants, told counsel Malik Imtiaz Sarwar that while OCPD Zainal Abidin was giving the orders to disperse, he noticed that quite a number of participants were already leaving.

"Among them was Lim Guan Eng (now Penang chief minister), who had decided to leave the place.

"However, many still remained in the hall. After Zainal Abidin gave the three warnings to disperse, those who failed to do so were arrested," he said.

In his witness statement, Tengku Hamzah said he went to the hotel with 21 police officers.

Upon reaching there, he saw 150 participants at the conference, with several demonstrators standing at the side of the hall.

He said he escorted several officers from the Immigration Department to the hall where they proceeded to inspect the travel documents of the participants.

"Forty-seven foreigners were escorted out of the hall but the demonstrators began to get unruly again, resulting in Zainal Abidin ordering the crowd to disperse.

"Some decided to disperse and the four protesters who remained behind were arrested," he said.

The four were Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, Nadzri Ismail, Mohamad Suparadi and Abdul Hadi Mohd Zaki.

With the defence closing its case today, Wan Adnan has fixed May 8 for submissions.

RM86 million suit

Besides Iznan, senior federal counsel Khairul Nizam Mohd Kamal is also representing the government in the RM86 million suit filed by 36 local activists and journalists.

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, 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