The 72-year-old retired army officer says that Baharuddin Ahmad's death during the Bersih 2.0 rally has prompted him to make a political stand.
Speaking to reporters after handing over a memorandum to the Bukit Aman police headquarters, Kassim Ahmad said he was deeply saddened by the incident.
His brother, Baharuddin, 58, had died during last Saturday’s Bersih 2.0 rally.
Kassim said he was disappointed that nobody from the government or the police had attended his brother’s funeral.
“They had not even passed condolences for his death… I have decided to join Pakatan after this. I do not belong to any political party but after this incident, (it is clear) that Pakatan knows how to take care of the rakyat,” said the distraught former army man.
He also lauded the “brave people” who took to the streets on July 9 and urged the government not to treat the opposition like the enemy.
Baharuddin, a father of three and the husband of PKR Setiawangsa women’s wing chief, was said to have died due to heart complications when he fled from the tear gas fired by the police.
This morning, Kassim and his nephew Azahar Kassim were accompanied by more than 20 people, including activists and PKR leaders, dresed in different shades of yellow, gold and orange, to submit the memorandum.
Among others, the family called for a thorough investigation and that all the policemen involved in the incident be suspended pending the outcome of the probe.
Apart from this, the memorandum also called for the findings to be made public and for Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar to apologise to the family and all Malaysians.
‘His injuries must be explained’
Speaking to a police officer who received the memorandum, PKR vice-president N Surendran expressed disappointment that the police denied any wrongdoing even before an investigation was concluded.
He also said that the injuries sustained by Baharuddin such as broken ribs, a missing tooth and bruised lip needed more explanation.
“There were footages which showed that police had kicked the protesters. We want to know if this also happened with him (Baharuddin),” he told the press later.
The PKR leaders also insisted on getting the contact number of the person who would be assigned to probe the case since judging from prior experience, most memorandums were futile efforts.
This forced Bukit Aman’s public relations officer ACP Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf to meet with those gathered outside the gates.
Ramli said that the “police will take one thing at time” and “investigate the matter further”.
Pressed by Surendran and Subang MP R Sivarasa on whether the police had washed their hands off based on the comments made by the top brass, he replied: “I don’t know, I am not at their level. Thank you very much for your concern.”
Meanwhile, local NGO Angkatan Warga Aman Malaysia president A Rajaratinam claimed that the police did not do anything to help the deceased.
“We were in Avenue K (opposite KLCC). It was clear that he was having major breathing difficulties. Two officers were standing there but they did not do anything even when we asked for help,” he claimed.
“It took the ambulance 25 minutes to reach the area,” he added.
No comments:
Post a Comment