THE leader of a rally against the teaching of khat calligraphy to vernacular school pupils was taken in by police for questioning, minutes after concluding his speech at the demonstration in Brickfields this evening.

Umagandhan Krishnan, the chief coordinator of the “Puratchi” rally, was taken together with Malaysia Chinese-Educated Students’ Association chairman Tan Boon Tak to have their statements recorded.

Acting Brickfields OCPD Arifai Tarawe confirmed that both men had been brought to the Brickfields district police headquarters. They were accompanied by a lawyer, Dinesh Muthal.

The crowd at the rally had started gathering at around 6pm at the fountain in the area known as Little India. “Puratchi” in Tamil means “revolution”.

The speeches started at around 7.20pm, with Umagandhan and Tan both addressing the crowd. They were given 10 minutes to finish speaking before police took them away. 

Police estimated that some 500 people had gathered. Many were dressed in red and black T-shirts that bore the words “Kami Tidak Setuju Pelaksanaan Tulisan Jawi Dalam SRJK(T)/SRJK(C)” (“We do not agree with implementing Jawi writing in Tamil/Chinese vernacular schools”).

Arifai said although police have the full authority to arrest the organisers as they committed an offence under the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012, they were only taken to have their statements recorded.

He added that he hopes this will not lead to the spread of false news. 

“We brought in the two to take the details of their speech contents to make sure there were no negative elements. If we follow the standard procedure, we can arrest because the organisers have clearly made an offence under Section 9(5) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012.

“Arrest or not, that depends on us. We’ll see how the investigation goes. The organisers also gave their full cooperation to police and we hope there is no false news spreading,” Arifai said. 

He also told reporters that the rally organisers had failed to get approval from the city council to hold the event, which led to a heavier traffic in the area.

Police were also concerned about security issues, he said, as the organisers’ speech might touch on sensitive issues and cause tensions. Hence, they decided not to give approval for the rally. 

“The Peaceful Assembly Act clearly states that a person who intends to organise a peaceful gathering anywhere has to get approval from the city council. They then need to bring that (approval) to police for our consideration.

“In this case, the oganisers didn’t get approval from DBKL to host the event. Therefore, they are not allowed to hold the rally in Brickfields.

“From a security standpoint, police didn’t give permission as we were concerned that sensitive issues and such would arise in the speech,” he told reporters. 

When asked about police’s plans for tomorrow, where another rally is planned by a different group, Arifai said similar actions will be taken. 

“Tomorrow will be the same. We will have road diversion. The purpose is simple. It’s to ensure the people and residents here get to go about their daily routine without any problem,” Arifai said.

As at 9pm, police were still present at the gathering spot and the crowd was slowly dispersing.

At around 9.30pm, the crowd of around 50 suddenly gathered again near the fountain and started shouting, “We object Jawi in vernacular schools”.

This was immediately stopped by police and the crowd was told to disperse without creating any further issues.

The crowd dispersed without arguing further. – August 23, 2019.