A legal assistant who went to the aid of a
Chinese couple being assaulted by police during Bersih 3.0, ended with
broken ribs and head injuries.
KUALA
LUMPUR: Being a good Samaritan landed M Yuktesuaran, 25, in the
hospital with swollen ribs, bruised arms, injured thigh, bruised face
and a ruptured ulcer.
These injuries were sustained at the hands of the police at the Bersih 3.0 rally on the evening of April 28.
Yuktesuaran went to the aid of a young Chinese couple who were being manhandled by the police when he too was beaten up.
Yuktesuaran, a legal assistant, is still being warded at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital.
According to him, he arrived at Jalan Leboh Ampang at about 3pm that Saturday when the tear gas was already released.
Seeing the fracas unfolding, he thought that it would best to stay
put at Leboh Ampang and help the many people who needed water and salt.
He said he was not even wearing yellow.
At around 6pm, he said that he decided to make his way to Masjid
Jamek LRT station to meet his cousin. There were hordes of police there
who were yelling “Keluar!” Keluar!” (get out!).
A split second later, the police began ambushing people – catching
them at random, beating them with bare fists and hands and shooting some
kind of pellets at the crowd.
Kicked in the face
Soon after, the crowd, chanting “Bersih! Bersih!” began to move
towards Dataran Merdeka when they were suddenly surrounded by about 200
policemen.
The rally-goers were ambushed and pounced upon by the police who did not have their name tags on their uniforms.
“I saw a young Chinese coupled being roughed up by the police, near
the HSBC bank. The boy was punched repeatedly and shoved up against the
wall.
“The girl couldn’t move because her arm was linked with the boy’s and
she was punched too. I ran up to them and yanked the girl free and she
was crying. I asked her if that was her boyfriend and she said yes.
“The police were not happy with my intervention and yelled at me, ‘kau ni samseng?’ (are you a thug). I replied that I wasn’t, only that they have no right to rough up innocent citizens.
“When I said this, I felt a hard knock at the back of my head and
then someone began dragging me by my collar. I told them that I will not
resist arrest, but I have a right to know why I’m being arrested.
“The reply I received was, ‘Tak payah tahu’ “(you don’t need to know).”
Yuktesuaran said that he was dragged to the barracks at Dataran
Merdeka where there were between 1,000 and 1,500 policemen and FRU
personnel.
“Being at the rally, I was prepared for the consequence because you
do reap what you sow. I was approached by a legal aid personnel who
offered me help, but was told by a policeman to leave.”
Yuktesuaran was then taken to the Royal Selangor Club where there
were more police barracks. While he was being led away, he was
repeatedly hit and kicked by a line of policemen lining the pathway.
“One of the policemen must have recognised me from my various court
room appearances when I was assisting Sankaran Nair in Anwar Ibrahim’s
sodomy case and called out to the rest, “Ini peguam! Ini anjing Anwar!
(He is a lawyer. He’s Anwar’s lapdog).
“I suffered more beatings and one of the policemen tried to deliver a
flying kick to my face. When I managed to avoid it, he asked his
colleagues to hold me down and he kicked me in my face,” Yuktesuaran
said.
No regrets
After the beatings, Yuktesuaran was also verbally abused when he asked for some medical attention.
He suffers from a severe H Pylori condition (H Pylori is a bacteria
inducing severe ulcers), which causes extreme discomfort and pain in the
stomach.
“I was denied access to my lawyers and an elderly couple exiting from the club took pity on me and helped call Sankaran.
“After 30 minutes, I was put in an ambulance and taken to a detention
camp where I saw at least 50 injured Bersih rally-goers being detained.
“I was held there for another 30 minutes before being sent to the
Kuala Lumpur Hospital where the doctors were very good and attentive,”
he said.
When asked if he regrets any of this, Yuktesuaran was quick to reply:
“No. Not one bit. If there were a Bersih 4.0, I will be there again at
the front lines, helping whomever needs my help.
“I have been advised by Sankaran to pursue legal action against the
police and this is something we will discuss further once I am back on
my feet.
“I intend to report back to work tomorrow because I cannot take this lying down and I must take action now.”
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