15 min Bersih happening at Petaling St ended with arrest of Hii Cheong Fatt

Even a 1-man protest against unfair elections attracted heavy handed arrest from Malaysian cop.

Hii Cheong Fatt flew in from Sibu this afternoon. Checked into a down town hotel, then took a cab to Petaling St. He waved a huge Malaysian flag with one hand and held a placard with a simple message`bersih’ followed by drawing of a handcuff, `Kotor’ followed by a tick. Immediately he attracted public attention and honks of support from passing cars. In 3 minuted he attracted a small gang of reporters around him for his daring 1-man protest. In 5 minutes a team of 3 patrol police on motorbikes tried to stop Hii from continuing the protest at the end of a road divider. Hii argued with a plumb and young cop-with shout of `Polis bohong’-which attracted supportive echos from the crowd. The cop wanted to handcuff him and arrest him. He shouted`Apa salah?’ (What is wrong?) The young cop finally called in a police patrol car where a senior police officer tried to persuade Hii to go with him to the police station. Hii complied only after he managed to get his passport back from the police. He waved to an appreciative crowd before he got into the police car, 15 minutes after he started the `happening’ on Bersih, which ended with his arrest. A video by Meo-Net is here.

Around 7.30pm Hii was transfered from his holding cell to Dang Wangi police station next to Stadium Merdeka. He said over the phone that he was merely waiting for the last 3 hours without anything being done about the accusation made against him-which is that the police don’t allow any reference to the outlawed Bersih group.

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