KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 — DAP’s Lim Kit Siang questioned today PKR lawmaker Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad’s three-day remand for joining a rally, pointing out that a minister had not been detained when he was questioned for mooting a boycott of Chinese-owned businesses.
The DAP parliamentary leader said the detention of Nik Nazmi over the Selangor executive councillor’s participation in the #KitaLawan rally in the city centre yesterday showed a “clear” abuse of power by the police.
“It’s a clear case of persecution,” Lim told a press conference here today.
“Why wasn’t Ismail Sabri (Yaakob) taken for three days on his very seditious speech?” the Gelang Patah MP questioned, referring to the agriculture and agro-based industries minister from Umno.
After his Facebook suggestion last month that Malay consumers boycott Chinese-owned businesses for profiteering, police said Ismail Sabri would be investigated under Section 505b of the Penal Code for issuing a statement that could cause “fear or alarm to the public”.
But at the time, Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar allowed the minister to come in for questioning at a later date due to the minister’s busy schedule.
In Nik Nazmi’s case, the Selangor lawmaker was picked up by police yesterday, one day after the #KitaLawan rally, which he is being investigated for.
Today, the lawmaker was issued a three-day remand order to assist in investigations.
Lim also called on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, whose ministry oversees the police force, to “ensure Nik Nazmi is released immediately”.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said Nik Nazmi’s three-day remand until Wednesday was tantamount to oppression.
“He’s not a dangerous person. He just used his right to peaceful assembly,” he said at the same press conference.
Thousands marched in the capital city Saturday to protest against the incarceration of Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for sodomy, a rally that the police had dubbed illegal as organisers had failed to give notice 10 days before the event.
According to Nik Nazmi’s lawyer Melissa Sasidaran yesterday, the Seri Setia assemblyman is being investigated under Section 9(5) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 and Section 143 of the Penal Code.
