> Police raid DAP HQ
The police today raided the DAP headquarters in Petaling Jaya in search of documents believed to be related to the arrest of 16 party activists in Ampang on Thursday night.
The raid, which took place at 6.25pm, was carried out by a team of 11 police officers. They left at 7.30pm.
The police had brought one of those arrested, Ulu Selangor councillor Ooi Leng Heng, 34, along with them in the raid.
Ooi, who is also DAP Youth's political education bureau director, was seen in handcuffs and dressed in the standard orange lock-up uniform.
In the one-hour raid, the police confiscated Ooi's computer monitor, keyboard, headphone, a number of CDs and a CPU (central processing unit).
According to witnesses, the cops did not show any search warrant.
An outraged Nga Kor Ming, who is DAP parliamentarian for Taiping, lambasted the raid.
"This is the first time in DAP's 42-year history that police have raided our HQ," he fumed.
Investigated under PPPA
Sixteen people were arrested at the DAP Teratai service centre for holding a candlelight vigil.
Those arrested, including Teratai state assemblyperson Jenice Lee, have been held over the past two days at the Pandan Indah police lock-up to facilitate investigation.
It is learnt that they are being probed for illegal assembly as well as Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (PPPA).
At the candlelight vigil, DAP had distributed a two-page leaflet titled ‘507 Detik Hitam dalam Sejarah Demokrasi Malaysia!’ (507 - A Black Moment in Malaysia’s History of Democracy).
Under the PPPA, the police could charge them for publishing an illegal document or for spreading false news.
At a press conference, DAP Puchong parliamentarian Gobind Singh slammed the police for not producing a warrant, although this is a requirement under Section 16 of the PPPA.
“This is a clear cut case of invasion of privacy and trespass,” said Gobind, who is head of the party’s legal bureau.
Also at the press conference, DAP central committee member Teresa Kok said that the raid and detention of the 16 was a “scare tactic” by the police to pre-empt any future candlelight vigils.
“They are intentionally prolonging the detention of the people, putting additional charges (other than illegal assembly) just to discourage people from attending,” said Kok, who is Seputeh MP and Kinrara state assemblyperson.
Meanwhile, DAP chairperson and Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai said that the candlelight vigil outside his office in Cheras would still proceed tonight at 9pm tonight - Malaysiakini.
