Bekas ketua polis negara Tun Haniff Omar dilantik mengetuai panel bebas bagi menyiasat dakwaan insiden kekasaran oleh pihak polis ketika menangani perhimpunan BERSIH 3.0 pada 28 April lalu.
Dilaporkan panel itu akan disertai enam anggota termasuk bekas hakim, wakil media dan ahli akademik.
Beliau baru-baru ini mencetuskan konstroversi apabila mendakwa pihak yang simpati terhadap komunis dan aktif sebagai peserta demonstrasi sekitar 1970-an terlibat dalam perhimpunan BERSIH 3.0.
Menteri Dalam Negeri Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein ketika mengumumkan perkara itu hari ini berkata, terma rujukan panel itu akan ditetapkan dalam tempoh beberapa hari lagi dalam mesyuarat pertamanya.
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Former IGP to head Bersih 3.0 independent panel
PUTRAJAYA, May 9 — Tun Hanif Omar was named today as the head of a six-man independent panel to investigate allegations of police violence against journalists and other participants of last month’s Bersih 3.0 rally for electoral reforms.
Besides the former Inspector General of Police, the other members of the panel are former Chief Judge of Borneo Tan Sri Steve Shim, Sinar Harian managing editor Datuk Hussamuddin Yaacub, legal adviser to Media Chinese International Liew Peng Chuan, Petronas corporate affairs senior general manager Datuk Medan Abdullah and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia psychology Prof Dr Ruszmi Ismail.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, who announced the names today, said the panel was expected to convene its first meeting to set its terms of reference in the next few days.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had pledged last week that “credible, experienced and respectable” individuals would form the independent panel tasked with investigating allegations of police brutality.
Najib added that he, along with the entire government and members of the public, are keeping a close eye on investigations into the allegations that journalists, both local and foreign, had been roughed up during the rally for free and fair elections.
Six local pressmen and about 12 photographers and journalists from the foreign media were reportedly assaulted during the fracas on April 28, after the police sprayed water cannons and tear gas to disperse Bersih 3.0 protesters.
Both local and foreign media groups have condemned the hard-handed tactics used on the media, whom they pointed out were merely doing their jobs.
Chaos reigned on the streets of Kuala Lumpur for over four hours after 3pm on April 28 when police fired tear gas and water cannons and chased protesters down the streets of the capital to disperse what had initially started out as a peaceful protest calling for free and fair elections.
The Bar Council has said that its observers found that police brutality at the rally was “magnified” as compared to already chaotic scenes during a similar gathering for free and fair elections last July 9.
Police fired tear gas and water cannons after some demonstrators breached the barricade in front of DBKL and rushed into Dataran Merdeka, which the court had barred the public from entering across that particular weekend.
Police fired as far as the DBKL premises, which are across Jalan Parlimen, and the move broke up the crowd who fled helter-skelter but police chased them down at Jalan Tun Perak and Jalan Raja Laut.
The Malaysian Insider
