PETALING JAYA (Sept 19, 2008) : Member of Parliament for Seputeh Teresa Kok, who is also Selangor senior state exco in charge of investments, has been released from detention under the Internal Security Act, a week after she was taken in for her alleged role in a matter involving the azan (Muslim call to prayer).
Teresa Kok
The DAP national organising secretary was released at the Jalan Travers police station here at about 1.30 pm. Her parents, father Kok Kim Tong and mother Poh Seh Kwon, and her lawyer N. Sankara Nair were at the police station when she was released.
"I am happy that I have been released and I'm OK," she told reporters gathered at the police station. To a question, Kok said: "I do not know why I was released today, just as I do not know why I was detained."
Kok was picked up in front of her apartment in OUG Heights in Jalan Klang Lama at 11.15 pm last Friday while returning home from a function. She had been accused of petitioning a mosque to reduce the volume for the "azan" call for prayer. She has denied doing so.
A press conference has been called for 3.30pm at the DAP headquarters in Taman Paramount here for her to recount her ordeal of being confined to a 6ft by 8ft cell, during which she was allowed one visit from her parents, her favourite niece and her aide Mandy Ooi on Monday.
Her incarceration sparked a nationwide signature campaign seeking her freedom, as well as prayer sessions.
The joy of being released was clearly demonstrated in her Facebook entry at 1.35pm: "Teresa sings 'Honey, I'm home, I've had a hard day, pour me a cold one da da da....". Her sense of humour had not deserted her.
It is learnt the 44-year-old politician made the posting at the Jalan Travers police station while her release papers were being processed.
The posting was done about half an hour after she had called DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang to inform him of her release. Lim, who was then having lunch in Ipoh, said in his blog that he had at first thought that somebody was using her phone as her name had flashed on his handphone's caller identification screen.
"But it was her on the line and I wondered how she wangled the use of her phone while in detention. But no, she did no such improper thing. She told me that she was being released. Bravo. The irresistible pressures against her unjust and undemocratic detention had succeeded."
Lim said although they are jubilant, they must also be mindful that the recent spate of ISA arrests demonstrated that this iniquitous law must go. He mentioned Sin Chew reporter Tan Hoon Cheng’s 18-hour ISA detention and Teresa’s detention as testimony.
He again called for Raja Petra Kamaruddin, the editor of Malaysia Today news website, to be released immediately, as well as the Hindraf Five and all other ISA detainees.
Before her detention, Kok, a three-term MP, was linked to attempts to petition a mosque to reduce the volume for azan (the call to prayer). She has vehemently denied this and the Masjid Kota Damansara has also clarified that a damaged amplified had resulted in the calls to prayers to be made without the aid of a PA system.
The accusation surfaced in a Sept 10 article in Utusan Malaysia quoting former Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo. Kok's name was not mentioned in that article.
Kok also lodged a police report against Utusan Malaysia, its columnist Zaini Hassan and Dr Mohd Khir.
On Monday, Kok filed a habeas corpus application in the High Court for her release.
The Sun
19/09/08
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