A senior police officer on duty during the Bersih 3.0 electoral reform rally admitted that in the “chaos” that day, they may have lost control of some of their men.

“Yes,” agreed ACP Karthikeyan Wassu, when asked about the matter by the police representative to the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) public inquiry into alleged human rights abuses during the April 28 demonstration.

The police representative, ACP Jamaluddin Abdul Rahman had asked Karthikeyan whether it was possible “control over officers on duty may be disrupted because (of pressure) to accomplish the mission, faced with superior numbers and when acting in self-defence”.

Karthikeyan, who is the officer in charge of the public order department at the Dang Wangi police headquarters was assigned as the logistics coordinator during the rally for all the police duty zones during the April rally.

He also agreed with Jamaluddin that conditions during Bersih 3.0 were “chaotic”.

Karthikeyan also admitted that he was the officer whom witnesses saw giving orders via a loudhailer to a group of officers which later allegedly went on to disperse remaining rally participants, some say using excessive force, after 6pm that day.

He admitted this when asked about the matter by the lawyer representing Bersih during today’s proceedings.

'Briefing was by Dang Wangi OCPD'

However, he clarified that he did not issue any orders as he only gathered the over 70 police personnel to receive a briefing by Dang Wangi OCPD Zainuddin Ahmad.

Karthikeyan related that Zainuddin had then ordered the men to disperse the 100 or so yellow-clad Bersih participants still present despite the rally having concluded.

However, he said that the OCPD’s instructions were to use judicious means to disperse the crowd and tell them to vacate the area.

Asked if he was aware of alleged police brutality which witnesses claimed was committed by the men he gathered, he said he had no idea what they did after receiving the OCPD’s orders.

“I don’t know what they did as I did not follow them.”

After the orders were given, he said, he went back to the mobile police station near the St Mary’s cathedral and had no more contact with the dispersal team.

But he agreed with Jamaluddin that the protesters who remained and refused to leave that evening were “hardcore” Bersih supporters who remained defiant.

Kartikeyan’s testimony concluded today’s hearing, with proceedings set to resume tomorrow morning.

Suhakam convened the hearing after a public outcry over allegations of police misconduct against Bersih participants and newspersons by officers during the rally, which saw over 100,000 protesters flooding the national capital in the largest demonstration in recent history.

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