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Probe completed
by Charles Ramendran, Hemanan-
thani Sivanandam and Husna Yusop
newsdesk@thesundaiy.com
PUTRAJAYA: The prime minister said the
public should leave it to the police and At-
torney-General to decide if demonstrators
who displayed a cow’s head while protest-
ing against the relocation of a Hindu temple
in Shah Alam had violated the Sedition Act.
“However, for most Malaysians, it was a
very regretful incident. The police and A-G
will decide whether the action of the pro-
testers is an offence under the Sedition Act,”
Datuk Seri Najib Razak said yesterday after
announcing the winner of the 1Malaysia
songwriting contest.
Police have completed their investigation
into last Friday’s protest by a group of 50
residents of Section 23, Shah Alam.
District police chief ACP Noor Azam
Jamaluddin told theSun yesterday the inves-
tigation papers of the case, classified under
sedition and illegal assembly, have been
submitted to the A-G. Police received more
than 50 reports on the protest outside State
Secretariat building and recorded statements
from 56 people, including the protesters.
Confirming this, Inspector-General of
Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan said police have
identified those responsible. He said the
police took 60 statements over three days
to single out the culprits.
Selangor police chief DCP Datuk Khalid
Abu Bakar, who was contacted at 10.30pm
yesterday, told theSun the AG had directed
Welcome to KL’s wet land office
by Tim Leonard
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: It was literally a wet day
inside the ground floor of the Kuala Lumpur/
Federal Territory Land and Mines Office on
Jalan Sultan Hishamuddin yesterday.
A burst water pipe flooded the premises
housing the land registration department,
soaking documents. It was discovered when
the staff reported for work. Workers used
Member of Audit Bureau of Circulations (Malaysia)
» Perak PR reps convene sitting in Ipoh hotel pg2
PM: LET POLICE AND A-G DECIDE
IF COW-HEAD PROTEST SEDITIOUS
the investigating officer of the case to gather
more information and record further state-
ments from several witnesses. “We will com-
ply with the AG’s instructions and resubmit
the investigation papers,” he said.
The protest has been condemned by
political leaders from the Barisan Nasional
and Pakatan Rakyat.
Yesterday, Selangor executive council-
lor Dr Xavier Jeyakumar, Klang MP Charles
Santiago and Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad
met with Noor Azam for about 30 minutes to
get an update on the investigation.
“The OCPD told us the case is
being probed for sedition and illegal
assembly and has been completed. He also
told us action would be taken against those
who tried to exploit and sensationalise the
incident,” Jeyakumar said.
Khalid Samad said the police should
have arrested the protesters instead of
turning a blind eye to their despicable
action. He also said he had spoken to the
residents who had no objections to the con-
struction of the temple in their area and that
they had been threatened by the protesters.
He also refuted claims there are more
than 8,000 Hindu temples and shrines in
Shah Alam. The actual number is only 14,
he said. “There are six registered temples
and eight which are unregistered. As for
mosques and surau, there are 70 in Shah
Alam. This is a fair ratio considering the
number of Muslims and Hindus,” he said.
In Putrajaya, Home Minister Datuk Seri
Hishammuddin Hussein said the Section 23
electric irons to dry the documents.
The department is a division in the Land
Office where documents of land in the city,
valued at billions of ringgit, are stored. The de-
partment also stores land auction files and is
responsible for safeguarding the documents.
theSun found the department closed yes-
terday and the public were directed to the first
floor. Behind a closed door, several workers sat
on the floor,ironing the soaked documents while
others were sorting dried papers (see picture
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Thursday
September 3, 2009
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» Going international pg16 Glow
residents will meet Malaysia Hindu Sangam
Council officials again to resolve the reloca-
tion issue. He said the two parties met on
Monday and would meet again tonight to find
an amicable solution (see also page 4).
“The residents have taken a proactive
approach of meeting the council and maybe
they will come up with a joint statement
together,” said Hishammuddin after a
closed-door meeting with the residents in
his office.
Among those in the meeting was Sec-
tion 23 Action Committee chairman Ahmad
Mahyuddin Abdul Manaf, who opposes the
construction of the temple, and Section 23
Residents Committee chairman Zainuddin
Md Yusoff.
Hishammuddin said those present at
the meeting said they had no intention at
all to use the “cow’s head” or “incite racial
sentiments”. However, he said the protest-
ers would have to face the consequences
of their action.
“They are not going to get off scot-free,
they just felt victimised because they felt
there is another valid explanation but they
have no intention on their part to cause
racial divide,” he said, adding they only
ZULKIFLI ERSAL/THESUN
wanted “their voices to be heard”.
He said the incident was not the
first as there were other similar
incidents, citing the example
in Malacca where a pig’s head
was wrapped in an Umno flag
and placed in front of the party’s
building.
Salad dressing ...
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) Asia
Pacific senior campaigner Ashley Fruno made more than a
fashion statement in a lettuce gown in Bukit Bintang, Kuala
on page 4). Land and Mines director Hasim
Lumpur, yesterday. Her head-turning stunt at the entrance to
Ismail said there was no reason for land and
the Pavilion shopping mall was to promote the campaign’s
property owners to worry because “all the
tagline Let Vegetarianism Grow on You.
soaked documents have been salvaged”.
It took 40 lettuce heads to make the mermaid-tailed gown.
He said damaged documents would be
“Peta always chooses something provocative and eye-
rectified and the public will be attended to on
catching to promote a message,” she said. “It’s ridiculous,
the first floor. “Business is as usual, and those
fun and it gets people’s attention.”
who have documents with us need not worry.
Fruno stood at the busy area for about 30 minutes before
Not all documents were damaged. We also
the shopping mall’s security guards dispersed the crowd of
have ways to trace whatever information we
reporters and photographers who had gathered around her.
need,” he said when contacted.