The Malaysian Human Rights Commission yesterday released a report on the alleged violations of human rights during a demonstration at KLCC on May 28 last year.

Among the findings was that the police had infringed the rights of some of the demonstration participants and that some police officers involved could be charged under the Penal Code.

Below are some of reactions to the report from several human rights watchdogs:

P Uthayakumar, Police Watch and Human Rights Committee legal advisor

There was a clear abuse of power. To us, this is nothing unusual. The question is, what happens after this? Suhakam has no (prosecution) powers. It must be independent. They must have both investigative and prosecution powers.

At the end of the day, it is the attorney-general who charges and prosecutes the relevant police personnel. But when it comes to the police, the attorney-general is very slow to prosecute criminal abuse of police powers.

Suhakam's findings is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the abuses of police of this nature. Bloody Sunday got some attention because it was given media coverage, but there are thousands of other people that suffer abuses on a daily basis.

We call upon the attorney-general to prosecute the relevant police officers for abuse of power.

Elizabeth Wong, National Human Rights Society (Hakam) committee member

We feel vindicated. We've been reporting to Suhakam about police abuses for many years, we are very happy that the report has finally been released, although there were initially some resistance from Suhakam to conduct the inquiry.

We hope that the police will take the recommendation seriously so that in the next peaceful public assembly, this would not recur.

Amer Hamzah, human rights lawyer

The findings by Suhakam is timely. I think Suhakam has made certain good recommendations that the government should seriously consider.

As far as the police is concerned they should make necessary changes vis--vis carring out internal investigations as to how to better handle such situations in the future.

However, it is a sad fact that from past experience, the government has not taken heed of recommendations from Suhakam.

The government has a moral obligation, if not legal, to consider and take the necessary implementations to amend the laws. If the government has any credibility or integrity, they should not disregard the findings.

The government must accept the recommendation. Suhakam is not set up to waste taxpayers' money.