An opposition party today lashed out at the police for detaining 48 people in Kamunting yesterday, and questioned if the incident marked a new phase of police high-handedness and intolerance following the Sept 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang said, "I am gravely concerned as to whether what happened yesterday was an isolated incident because of the misguided zeal of the police officer in charge or whether it marked a new phase of police high-handedness and intolerance to exploit the paranoia after Sept 11."

In his press statement today, Lim said the terrorist attacks have far-reaching political, economic and security repercussions not only in the United States but in every country in the world.

"There is, for instance, the general feeling that in order to ensure greater security, one must be prepared to trade off civil liberties, human rights and democratic freedoms," he said, adding that such an attitude would make Malaysians more tolerant of police abuses like Internal Security Act detentions and high-handed actions such as in yesterday's incident.

Yesterday, police arrested 48 people, including a journalist and two cameramen, during a protest against the Internal Security Act at the Kamunting Detention Camp in Perak.

Among those arrested were Suaram co-ordinator S Arutchelvam, Keadilan's Abdul Ghani Haroon, PAS' Salleh Osman, Keadilan's Fairus Hashim and Hashim Haroon, Community Development Centre's R Selvam and Parti Sosialis Malaysia's Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj.

They were part of 300 people who had gathered near the camp to submit a memorandum to the camp administrators to express concern over the welfare and health of the ISA detainees and to mark the 14th anniversary of Operasi Lalang.

Peaceful and orderly

Lim urged Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also the home minister, to assure the nation that the government would not exploit the post-Sept 11 paranoia to "launch a new phase of police high-handedness and intolerance of the civil rights of Malaysia".

He also called upon the Inspector-General of Police Norian Mai to come out with a new police manual to govern police actions in handling peaceful assemblies and crowd dispersals.

According to Lim, there was completely no justification for the detentions yesterday and that the police acted without provocation in the peaceful and orderly gathering just when the protesters were in the process of dispersing.

"What is even more shocking and unacceptable was that many of those detained had [already dispersed and] gone to a nearby restaurant for food and refreshments," he said.

Lim added that it was clear that the police officers responsible for yesterday's incident had either not read or had utter contempt for the recommendations of the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) public inquiry into police brutality at the Kesas Highway gathering last November.

The inquiry found the police guilty of using excessive force then, and Suhakam had recommended that police dispersal methods be reviewed.

Among others, the commission called upon the police to act with restraint when dispersing assemblies using canes, batons, tear gas and water cannons.

Suhakam also suggested that three loud and clear warnings at 10-minute intervals be given as well as for sufficient time to disperse in relation to the crowd's size. It added that people trying to get away should not be chased or assaulted.

No restraint

"Where was the 'restraint' on the part of the police in the detention of the 48 people yesterday? If the police are going to detain people who are dispersing, what then is the use of asking them to disperse?" asked Lim.

The DAP leader also voiced his disappointment that more than two months after the publication of Suhakam's report, the government still could not come up with any action in response to it.

All the 48 detained were released by the police at around midnight yesterday.