Cops deny threatening Kuantan folk to take down white flag
Police have denied threatening Kuantan residents with a RM50,000 fine for flying a white flag to call for help.
Pahang police chief Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said police have no objections to the flying of the flags since it is not against the law as long as the flag is installed appropriately and not obstructing traffic.
“The reports are inaccurate; the police did not issue a threat. What happened...
Police have denied threatening Kuantan residents with a RM50,000 fine for flying a white flag to call for help.
Pahang police chief Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said police have no objections to the flying of the flags since it is not against the law as long as the flag is installed appropriately and not obstructing traffic.
“The reports are inaccurate; the police did not issue a threat. What happened according to Kuantan district police chief (Mohamad Noor Yusof Ali) was that the individual concerned hung the flag from an electric pole...
“There are no objections from the police actually, just that perhaps our advice was not well taken.
“I have instructed that no action should be taken if white flags are flown at appropriate places.
“Of course, if it blocks traffic and so on, it becomes an offence; but for flying it without being an obstruction and so on, no objection,” he told Malaysiakini.
Earlier, PKR's Teruntum state assemblyperson Sim Chon Siang said Kuantan residents complained that police officers ordered them to take down their white flags and threatened them with a RM50,000 fine.
This comes as the white flag movement gains traction with more people struggling to make ends meet amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sim told Malaysiakini he went to visit 13 families living in wooden houses in Bukit Setongkol, Kuantan, today.
The families raised two white flags at the main road near their houses on Tuesday (June 29), he said, adding that they then received assistance from local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) the next day.
However, the local village chief asked them to take down the flags yesterday afternoon, he said.
Failing to persuade the residents, Sim said the village chief then brought along police officers to the houses and again asked them to take down the flags.
The residents claimed that the police threatened to fine them, he said.
"The village chief went over and told them to take down the flags. He said that it was wrong. The residents said they really had nothing to eat so they asked for help. What was wrong?
"The village chief went out. Less than five minutes after, he came back with the police officers. The police ordered the villagers to take down the flags as it was wrong.
"The police also said that if the issue goes viral on the internet, they will be fined RM50,000," he said.
Sim added that most of the residents there are hawkers or labourers who have lost their income for around two months due to the movement control order.
"The question is which law or provision says that raising white flags is an offence?
"The people out there are really staving, so they raised the flags pleading for help," he said.
He added that while the residents took down the flags yesterday after the police's arrival, they raised another white flag again today during Sim's visit as he believed the police order was unreasonable.
Additional reporting by HARIZ MOHD
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
This action cannot be undone.