KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 22 — DAP’s Lim Kit Siang has hit back at prominent lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla and rubbished his claim that leaders of the political party were meddling with police investigations.
Lim said Haniff “could not be more wrong” following the lawyer’s allegations of DAP supposedly interfering with investigations just by virtue of being in the ruling coalition.
The DAP stalwart then advised Haniff to read the Buku Harapan, which spells out the Pakatan Harapan (PH) manifesto of the 14th general election, before commenting on the conduct of those within his party.
“I would advise lawyer Haniff Khatri Abdulah to read Buku Harapan before he opens his mouth about what Pakatan Harapan had promised in the 14th general election,” read a statement by Lim.
Lim then pointed Haniff to page 61 of the Buku Harapan, which details oppressive laws, also stating how the PH government would abolish draconian provisions within the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) as one of its manifesto promises.
“Haniff cannot be more wrong when he alleged that some DAP leaders, by the virtue of being part of the ruling government, were meddling in police affairs.
“DAP leaders are adhering to the Buku Harapan in pressing for the abolition of the draconian provisions in Sosma, which includes the denial of bail when a person is charged under Sosma and during the whole period the case is subject to appeal to the higher courts upon an application by the public prosecutor; which could take years,” read a statement issued by Lim today.
This comes in response to Haniff recently saying that DAP’s constant attacks against the police would adversely affect the nation’s image in upholding the rule of law, and give the impression that the party was meddling with investigations.
The lawyer had said he had to make his views known due to a growing perception that the government was bending the rule of law for the benefit of its own members.
This was in reference to a group of 10 who on October 10 were arrested by personnel from the Bukit Aman Counter Terrorism Division under Sosma for their alleged involvement with the now-defunct terrorist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE).
Among them were two DAP leaders, Gadek Assemblymen G. Saminathan, and Seremban Jaya P. Gunasekaran, who have since been denied bail, not allowed under Sosma.
This was until a recent High Court ruling that declared Section 13 of Sosma, which denied bail to detainees under the Act, unconstitutional.
“DAP condemns terrorism of any form and will provide unstinting support to the authorities to combat terrorism from whatever quarter,” he said.
Lim added that the police have yet to produce concrete evidence to link those arrested to their supposed involvement with the LTTE despite their arrests over two months ago.
