Six activists, including Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) pro-tem committee member Dr D Jeyakumar, were released on police bail yesterday evening after being held for about eight hours in Ipoh, Perak.

They were arrested yesterday at about 10.30am for trying to prevent the demolition of a house in Kampung Chekkadi in Ipoh.

Apart from Jeyakumar, the others arrested were non-governmental organisation Alaigal co-ordinators Moharani, 48, P Jody, 44 and G Pakialetchumy, 32; as well as local residents Charles Andrew, 23, and D Selvarajoo, 53.

When contacted today, Jeyakumar said that they were released at about 6.30pm yesterday, but are required to report to the Ipoh district police headquarters in two weeks.

"We may face charges of obstructing public servants from performing their duties. We will know more when we go back to the police station," said Jeyakumar.

The charge of obstructing public servants from discharging their functions falls under section 186 of the Penal Code. If found guilty, offenders can be jailed for a maximum of three months or fined up to RM1,000 of both.

Separate lock-ups

Relating details of the incident, Jeyakumar said they were arrested by a team of some 70 police personnel and taken first to the Ipoh district police headquarters.

"From there we were split up into two groups. I was sent to the Gunung Rapat lock-up, while some were taken to the Simpang Pulai lock-up," he added.

"We don't know why they wanted to put us in different lock-ups, but I believe the police did not want a gathering of a big crowd outside the Ipoh police station to protest our arrests."

Jeyakumar said that this had happened previously.

After the group was detained, the local authority completed its task of demolishing the house in Kampung Chekkadi.

Yesterday, PSM claimed that the police did not have any court order to execute the demolition and the house owner, identified only as Ganesan, had not been given notice to vacate his property.

The party said Ganesan, who has been living in the area for the past 25 years, was offered a housing lot in 1993 together with 250 other residents. However, his name disappeared from the list in 1998 and in 2000, all the other residents were allocated their units.

The matter was then raised with the Perak government and an assurance was given to Ganesan that his woes would be resolved. However, officials from the Land Office decided otherwise and arrived yesterday to demolish the house.

Jeyakumar said today that the activists and the residents met last night and decided to rebuild the demolished house on the same location.