His election campaign manager was arrested on nomination day, handcuffed and detained for six hours without any reasons given.

Two days later, the campaign manager’s car was splashed with acid and paint.

Segambut parliamentary candidate Lim Lip Eng of DAP has reasons to believe that the two incidences may be political intimidation to undermine his electoral campaign.

mahkota cheras police brutality suit 241007 lim lip eng The Klang-based lawyer told Malaysiakini that on nomination day, his campaign manager Peh Thiam Hock was arrested at 11pm without any valid reason and was handcuffed in Jinjang police station.

“I asked the highest-ranked officer in the police station - an ASP who refused to give me his name - what was Peh’s crime.

“He said a police report was made against Peh, so they arrested him. He failed to give me any more details and next thing I know, he left the police station leaving me, Peh and his subordinates behind,” he related.

Lim said he contacted the Sentul police district headquarters (IPD) for clarification and he was told to wait.

“I then stepped out to buy newspapers for 10 minutes and when I came back, Peh who was handcuffed, was gone. I later found out he was taken to IPD Sentul without my knowledge,” he said.

When Lim got to IPD Sentul, he discovered that the officer-in-charge called Hamid was not in.

“Hamid told me not to wait. He promised that Peh will be released on police bail the moment he returns.

“I waited until 3am. As I was too tired, I went home,” he said.

Peh was released at 4am on Feb 25 on police bail without any charges pressed.

Car incident not probed

Two days later, Peh and his wife, Soo Bee Kim found their silver Toyota Vios splashed with acid and white paint near their Taman Fadasan apartment in Kepong.

lim lip eng damaged vandalized painted car 010308 Lim said Soo lodged a police report at IPD Sentul and the investigating officer called inspector Faizul insisted that the car be brought to the police headquarters.

“I told Peh that the police should come to see the car. The car cannot be moved because it is a crime scene.

“But it has been 48 hours and inspector Faizul did not get back to us. The car is still there with paint and acid. It appears IPD Sentul is not interested in this case,” he said.

Lim added that they will not wait for any police action and promised Teh that he would raised funds to repaint the car which would amount to about RM3,500.

“After these two incidents, it is very hard not to think that this is a case of political intimidation and the police are being used for such a purpose.

“I will fear no one but God and I would still face the battle and fight the good fight,” he said unbowed.

Arrested for trespass

segambut parliamentary seat 010308 When contacted, the Sentul police chief Asst Comm Ahmad Sofian Md Yassin denied arresting Peh for no reason.

“There was an offence committed. He was arrested after a police report made against him for trespassing and not because he was the campaign manager (for Lim)," he said without elaborating.

“There is nothing political about this because we have nothing to do with politics. It is political because they want to make it political,” he said.

On the attack on Peh’s car, he said he has to check on the details first before commenting any further.

Lim will be facing BN’s Ma Woei Chyi, another lawyer who previously contested in the Kepong parliamentary seat twice. He lost both times to DAP’s Dr Tan Seng Giaw.

There are about 59,690 voters in Segambut consisting of 51.8 percent Chinese, 36.3 percent Malay and 11.6 percent Indian voters.