Bersih office raided, staff being questioned

G Vinod

Selangor police chief Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah says the raid was conducted following a tip off that there were illegal activities taking place in the premise.

PETALING JAYA: Bersih’s office here was today raided by the police as the authorities increased the pressure on the movement to call off its mass rally on July 9.

About 10 police officers were seizing several items from the premises this morning.

Reporters were barred from entering the premises and an officer from IPD Petaling Jaya took contact numbers and details from reporters present.

“Now the police are working. Later after work you can enter,” said an officer named Hamdan.

PKR supreme council member Latheefa Koya told reporters that the police came at about 11am and had threatened to force their way into the Bersih secretariat. Bersih shares the premises with another NGO, Empower.

“When the staff enquired the police whether they had a warrant, the police refused to answer and threatened to break down the gate.

“That’s when one of the staff opened the gate for them,” said Latheefa. Also present were Lawyers for Liberty advisor Eric Paulsen and coordinator Fadiah Nadwa Fikri.

Latheefa was not at the venue when the police arrived and only reached the place at about 1pm.

Staff members being questioned

The police are presently questioning six staff members under the Police Act and the Printing Presses and Publications Act.

Latheefa added that the staff members had their MyKads seized and were not allowed to leave the office.
She added that an officer known as ACP Rosli had said that the staff members will be investigated in the Bersih office for now.

If need be, they will then be taken for questioning at the Petaling Jaya police headquarters, she said.

Illegal activities

Selangor police chief Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah, when contacted, said the raid was conducted following a tip off that there were illegal activities taking place in the premise.

“So we monitored the place and found the allegation was true,” said Tun Hisan.

The police chief said his officers had seized hundreds of Bersih T-shirts and other Bersih apparels from the office.

“Bersih is also an illegal body as it is not registered under the Societies Act. So we will refer to Registrar of Societies on this case as well,”said Tun Hisan.