The Kampung Berembang saga may have developed differently if the Ampang district police did not intervene, said several groups today.

The manner and nature of the police's involvement in the demolition and eviction operations in the area over the past two weeks was anything but neutral or professional, they alleged.

The groups made the claims in a memorandum submitted to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Musa Hassan at the Bukit Aman federal police headquarters this afternoon.

Grassroots support group Jerit and the pro-tem Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM),who were among the main authors of the memorandum, said the district police had gone overboard and acted in the interests of the private developer seeking to clear the land.

The site of Kampung Berembang, formerly a Malay village of 470 residents, is located less than 10km from the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur.

Despite an ongoing court case to determine the legal owners of the land and the fate of its inhabitants - some of whom have lived there for over 30 years - last Nov 20 and Nov 30 saw demolition and eviction works that reduced the village to rubbles.

Physical assaults

Dozens of activists and residents were arrested after they struggled with police personnel and officers from the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ).

Witnesses to the operations spoke of physical assaults suffered by the residents at the hands of the enforcement personnel.

"We could have somehow handled the MPAJ. The problem was the back-up they got from the police," said PSM pro-tem secretary-general S Aruthchelvan when contacted.

In the memorandum, the groups questioned why the district police seemed to have acted hand-in-hand with MPAJ and the developer to carry out what they described as an illegal eviction and demolition.

'Unprofessional and irrational'

They also accused the police of having acted in an unprofessional and irrational manner during negotiations with residents and activists protesting the clearance works.

This included an incident where the police allegedly allowed the Nov 20 demolition exercise despite being shown a letter from the Prime Minister's Department recommending a postponement of the operations.

Ampang district police chief Amer Awal himself had on Nov 20 expressed preference for such a postponement, they claimed.

"So why did the police and MPAJ allwo the operations to continue? Why did the police not use its own discretion but followed the steps of MPAJ?" they asked.

They urged the IGP to call for an investigation into the matter to be conducted by those other than the Ampang district police.

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