KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 – PKR’s Chua Tian Chang today said that he was not aware that a police-training base here is a protected area, from which over 500 participants of Bersih’s April 28 rally last year were ordered to leave after their release.

Chua (picture) was testifying during his trial for allegedly disobeying police orders to leave the police training centre (Pulapol) in the early hours of April 29 last year.

During cross-examination by DPP Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar, Chua said he did not know that Pulapol was a protected area.

“It is not within my knowledge,” the PKR vice-president popularly known as Tian Chua said.

Later during re-examination by his lawyer Latheefa Koya, Chua said he had only found out about Pulapol’s status when he was charged over the matter.

“I realised (it is) a protected area when I was charged under the Protected Areas and Places Act,” the Batu MP said.

On April 29 last year, police officer DSP A. Rajakopal had at around 2.30am given the orders to leave Pulapol, which is listed as a protected area according to the Protected Areas Order (No. 2) 1975.

When asked by Latheefa if Rajakopal had told him that Pulapol is a restricted area, Chua replied “No”.

Earlier during cross-examination, Chua disputed the charge that he had disobeyed police orders, saying that he had informed police beforehand that he wanted to be among the last to leave Pulapol in order to provide advice to the remaining detainees.

When quizzed on the need for him to stay on, Chua replied that the detainees were experiencing their first detention and were anxious over their situation.

Chua listed their concerns as revolving around the detention process and release, the possibility of being charged and the availability of legal aid.

Some wanted to know if they would be sent to places where their families were waiting for their release and wanted medical aid, Chua said.

When Mohd Dusuki said that such matters should be left to the police to handle, Chua replied: “I don’t discount that this is a matter for the police but as I said, with the presence of a leader, the supporters feel more confident and relieved because there’s a person who can give advice.”

Mohd Dusuki then pointed out that Chua was the only one out of the 512 rally-goers detained in Pulapol to be charged in court, further saying that the charge was not even over the Bersih rally.

Citing that, he then suggested that Chua had invented the claim of the need to help those detained, but the latter disagreed.

On May 15 last year, Chua was charged under Section 4 (2) of the Protected Areas and Protected Places Act 1959 after he allegedly disobeyed police orders by refusing to leave Pulapol after his release.

He was arrested with 512 rally-goers after the Bersih 3.0 rally for electoral reform in the national capital here ended.

If convicted, Chua could be jailed up to two years or fined up to RM1,000 or both.

The hearing before Sessions Court Judge Mahmud Abdullah resumes on September 3, with activist Wong Chin Huat expected to testify as a defence witness.