KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 14 — The Malaysian Bar has called upon the police to speed up investigations related to their arrests of suspects with alleged links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) terrorist group.
Bar president Abdul Fareed Abdul Gafoor said the police should conduct their investigations according to the “rule of law” and “natural justice”, deeming it unnecessary to hold the suspects under the full length provided under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act or Sosma.
“The Malaysian Bar calls upon the police to speed up investigations in adherence to rule of law and natural justice and charge them in court if there is enough evidence to do so, and not to unnecessarily detain the suspects for a full length of 28 days as provided under Sosma.
“It must be reminded that the provision of Sosma had been abused in the past in the cases of Datuk Seri Khairudin Abu Hassan, Matthias Chang and Maria Chin Abdullah,” said Abdul Fareed in a press statement today.
He pointed out that Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin was released after a lengthy detention without any charges against her while Khairudin and Chang had their charges dropped by the prosecution.
He also repeated the Bar’s stand to seek the repeal of the Sosma and other draconian laws.
Last Thursday, DAP’s Seremban Jaya assemblyman P. Gunasekaran and Melaka state exco G. Saminathan were among seven suspects arrested over suspected links to the LTTE, with the others picked up in Kedah, KL, Selangor and Perak.
Subsequently, on Saturday, five more were arrested in Melaka during a day-long operation by the police.
It is understood one is the chief executive officer of a state-owned company while the other is a local authority councillor.
Bukit Aman’s Special Branch Counter-Terrorism Division chief Datuk Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay’s claim that large financial transactions were made to reactivate the LTTE, and that his team has been monitoring them since November last year.
Earlier today, senior DAP lawyers Ramkarpal Singh and RSN Rayer said they will file a legal challenge to the two party lawmakers’ detention without trial.
The police’s invocation of the Sosma for the arrests allows them to hold the suspects without trial for infinitely renewable blocks of 28 days at a time.
