Several individuals questioned by police for taking part in the May 1 Bantah GST rally today decried the long wait before a police officer recorded their statements.

One of them, Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad, said this appeared to be the newfound weapon of the police against activists – “to bore us to death”.

Khalid was released on police bail, together with Batu MP Tian Chua and Jingga 13 coordinator Fariz Musa, at 9.30pm today.

Khalid ( left ) and Fariz arrived at the Dang Wangi police district headquarters at 10am today after making an appointment with the police, while Tian Chua was brought there in the wee hours of today, after being arrested in Penang late last night.

The trio are being investigated under Section 143 of the Penal Code for illegal assembly and Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act 1948 for their alleged involvement in last Friday’s anti-goods and services tax (GST) rally.

According to Khalid, the police did nothing throughout the wait, until questioning began at about 7.30pm - which for him took just about 10 minutes.

“I assume that: Firstly, it is a deterrent in order to keep us away from demonstrations, otherwise we would not be harassed in this manner.

“Secondly, to keep us off the campaign trail in Rompin or Permatang Pauh. I would have been in Permatang Pauh tonight had I not been (detained),” Khalid told Malaysiakini when contacted.

He said he, Tian Chua and Fariz passed most of their time watching documentaries and the high-profile boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao on television, and he also played darts at the police headquarters.

Khalid also lamented that he did not bring a book to read or have his laptop with him to write articles, which would have been a more productive use of his time.

'IGP leading harassment by the police'

“I think this is a harassment by the police that is being done under the leadership of the inspector-general of police. He should be held responsible for the waste of resources and time.

“He should be more interested in serving the people than serving Umno,” Khalid added.

Meanwhile, lawyer Michelle Yesudas ( right ) who accompanied the trio through most of the wait, said it was “obvious” that the police were deliberately wasting time.

Michelle said throughout the wait, the police repeatedly gave excuses, such as that “the system is down” or that they were waiting “for the system to process”.

She added: “This happened to (Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli) and (former Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan) as well for three days. I was there (in Dang Wangi), three days in a row.

“Usually statement recording is not a complicated thing, but with all these three arrests, it took very long, they took their own sweet time, (and) the police were very evasive.”

Meanwhile, Fariz - who concurred with Khalid that the long wait was meant to put pressure on activists - vowed not to be cowed into silence

“We want to warn the Umno-led government that this does not shake our confidence, nor our strength to fight GST, even one bit,” Fariz said when contacted.

He also urged the police to release the 29 youths who have been remanded since yesterday for releasing an orange smoke flare during the protest.