PETALING JAYA, April 15 — Parti Keadilan Rakyat president Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail will not give a statement to the police over a gathering held by the party at the Sultan Sulaiman Club here last night although she was issued a notice to do so today.
PKR deputy president Dr Syed Husin Ali told Bernama the notice wanted her to come to the Dang Wangi police station in Kuala Lumpur at 3pm to assist investigations into a police report lodged over the gathering. Three others from PKR who received similiar notices from police were Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, PKR vice-president Azmin Ali and special aide to Khalid, Yahya Shari.
Kuala Lumpur deputy police chief Datuk Abd Samah Mat said that the PKR quartet could face arrest for not complying with the notice. "We can apply to the court to issue a warrant of arrest for them. However, we do not want to do that... if they are not free, we can negotiate a suitable date and time."
He explained that although there were no untoward incidents during the gathering, police still needed to investigate it as it was an unlawful one.
Dr Wan Azizah said three police officers presented her the notice at her home in Bukit Segambut at 9.20am. "I have consulted my lawyers who will be notifying the police about my inability to be present at the police station today to give the statement."
However, she did not rule out the possibility of cooperating with the police if her schedule permitted.
Besides her tight schedule today, Dr Wan Azizah also wanted to be given a copy of the police report lodged about the gathering before she will meet the police.
Syed Husin said: "We deem this action by the police against PKR leaders a form of provocation. They (police) appear to be very quick to act on our leaders the moment a police report (about us) is lodged."
The gathering was held to celebrate the party de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's active return to politics. Anwar had been barred from being actively engaged in politics for five years following a court conviction.
Dr Syed Husin said that the issue of a permit for the gathering did not arise as the party had discussed the matter with the Kuala Lumpur deputy police chief a few days before it was held. "The police were aware it was not being held in a public place and in fact gave use their views and advice on possible traffic congestion and public safety concerns," he said.
Below is the PKR press statement in response to the police notice.
Parti Keadilan Rakyat strongly protests police action
Parti Keadilan Rakyat strongly protests police action against YB Dr Wan Azizah Ismail, YB Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, YB Azmin Ali and Yahya Sahri. They have been summoned by the police to be present at Dang Wangi Police Station at 3pm today (15 April). They will only go there after receiving the police report that seemed to have been made against them.
Several police officers were in front of their homes as early as 6am to deliver the summons. It is believed that they want to investigate the gathering on April 14, 2008. It appears that there is a police report on the said gathering.
We consider the police action against the KeADILan leaders as an act of intimidation and provocation. The police seemed to act so speedily on this matter whereas they are known to have dragged their feet on reports that have been made by us and others on other matters.
We also consider this action to be mala fide (in bad faith). A meeting was held between the police (Timbalan Ketua Polis KL and others) representatives of the organisers, Yahya Sahri who is also personal assistant to the Selangor Menteri Besar and representatives of Kelab Sultan Sulaiman (Dato Rahman and Dato Mokhtar). Clarification was given on the programme of the gathering. This was followed by a written clarification by the organisers as well as the menteri besar himself.
The legal status of this gathering was never raised neither during the discussion nor in the correspondence that followed. The gathering was in a private property.
As the police was fully aware the gathering went on peacefully and in a controlled manner. It was confined to the compound of Kelab Sultan Sulaiman. The gathering was declared over after a police officer requested Anwar Ibrahim to terminate his speech. There was no protest from the gathering, the organisers or Anwar Ibrahim himself. The gathering ended peacefully and orderly at 10.30pm.
deputy president
Parti Keadilan Rakyat
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