Chia Ti Lik: Confessions of a Protestor World Consumer Rights’ Day – Protest in front of Parliament House Part 2

March 16, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Chia Ti Lik 

Written by Chia Ti Lik
16 March 2008, late afternoon

The trip towards Police Cantonment Complex was a very fast one.

The route was one which i often took as a lawyer, be it to bail clients / friends or to attend sessions when my clients were interviewed.

The police were ready at Police Cantonment Complex. The barrier was raised and there were extra police officers standing on guard to receive the welcoming of the vans. We drove into the basement carpark. The basement car park was also guarded.

We drove into a de-loading / de-bus bay. The vans reversed into the parking lots and a steel shutter was lowered to shut out the vans from the rest of the car park. A number of fresh police officers stood outside the van.

When it came for time to de-bus three police officers brought Seelan out first. They seemed to be unsure of what to do and then in a moment of haplessness asked us to stay right there where we were. Van doors open but steel shutters down. [a thought crossed my mind - did they tell Mas Selamat Kastari this as well prior to this escape?] After a while we were asked to move one by one out of the van and into the premises.

There were steel gates everywhere. Corridors had steel gates locking down wherever we passed. My mind begins to wonder – how did Mas Selamat Kastari escape?

We were asked to empty our pockets and put them into a transparent bag. The process was a tedious process. There were a number of us and the police took their time.

One of the police officers had trouble securing the transparent bag. Minutes passed. I tried to offer some advice to shorten the agony. A staff sergeant stepped in to demonstrate and finally the constable succeeded in securing my plastic bag of belongings.

We were then asked to move into a lock up room. big empty room with steel bars on the sides of one wall. As we were processed and put into the room. John Tan was finally brought in. John had been bound with his hands behind his back with extremely menacing looking plastic handcuffs. The handcuffs were clearly deliberately tightened to the point where there was discomfort caused.

John looked a bit pale. We were outraged and disgusted at the actions of the police. The police attempted to portray a soft side in front of the eyes of the public and the media. But within the walls of a police van and within Police Cantonment Complex, it was all a different story.

Dr. Chee demanded that the handcuffs be removed. John was unarmed. John was not violent. The policemen outnumbered us. We were in the lock up and we were not resisting. So why was John put in plastic handcuffs? Station Inspector Tan Kok Ann was the man in charge, he was the one who was supposed to keep us under control. Station Inspector Tan and Dr. Chee exchanged some firm words about the need to release John from the handcuffs. Siok Chin was firm in dealing with the police. When the cuffs were finally removed, John felt unwell, we then led him to the bench to be seated.

The lockup had windows. Transparent windows. It faced the guardroom. Inside the guardroom were as many as 4 – 8 policemen. When they processed us there were as many as 8 policemen standing nearby at the corridor. As we were being processed, they can put as many as 3 policemen in the lockup with us. Just to stand there and watch us. They had also put as many as 3 policemen watching us through the glass windows when the locked room was secured.

[You begin to wonder - how the hell did Mas Selamat Kastari escape? we were non-violent citizen activists and they place us under the eye of so many policemen]

[You begin to wonder - whether the Singapore Police Force had grotesquely misplaced priorities]

to be continued with part 3 on visits to the toilet.

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Comments

4 Comments on Chia Ti Lik: Confessions of a Protestor World Consumer Rights’ Day – Protest in front of Parliament House Part 2

  1. Live life and Pay up AND Shut up on Mon, 17th Mar 2008 2:54 pm

    2. [...] Please read more and a detailed article about the happenings directly by one of the protesters on sgpolitics(PART1). (PART2) [...]

  2. joseph on Wed, 19th Mar 2008 1:18 am

    3. Did you get to visit any toilet? That seems to be their weak spot

  3. Gary Teoh on Wed, 19th Mar 2008 5:38 pm

    4. Chia, I worry that if you are convicted by the court more than $2000, then you won’t be able to stand for election 2010 or11. Let us pray that you are accquited but the chances are remote. Anyway you did the right thing. Laws are meant to be broken.

  4. Singaporeans: Live Life And Pay And Shut Up on Tue, 31st Mar 2009 12:37 pm

    5. [...] Please read more and a detailed article about the happenings directly by one of the protesters on sgpolitics(PART1). (PART2) [...]

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