KLANG, 7 May: The police should not have arrested five residents from Klang regarding the incident of detaining two buses believed to be transporting foreigners in Pandamaran, Klang during the recent 13th General Election (GE-13).
Election agents for the Klang Member of Parliament, Sarajun Hoda Abdul Hassan said that the five individuals were not criminals or trouble-makers but helped to detain foreigners believed to have been sent in large numbers to vote in Klang.
“Those at Pandamaran were actually helping to prevent fraud and misconduct during the GE-13, they are not criminals, but when they suspected that there are illegal immigrants, they tried to stop them.
“And they did not prevent real voters from registering to vote,” he explained in a press conference today.
He claimed that the police informed that they will detain 150 to 200 more suspects to help investigations.
Previously, Charles Santiago who in the current Klang Member of Parliament filed complaints four times to the Election Commission (EC) regarding phantom voters, and the transferring of voters in and out of Klang but has yet to receive any response until the GE-13 ended.
Meanwhile, Charles’ lawyer, Mishanat said that the police claimed to have enough evidence to arrest five of them based only on video footage and photos.
Mishant said that the investigation by the police can be done but not to remand them till today.
“We cannot prevent the police from investigating, but they should not be remanded. If they are at fault, let the courts decide. We hope that the police will not try to create more provocation towards the people of Klang,” he said.
In the meantime, Mishanat questioned the actions of the police who released foreign nationals arrested without any prior announcement.
“Two buses were detained in Pandamaran B. Both these buses were carrying many Bangladesh, Indonesia and Myanmar nationals.
“We hope that the police will announce the names of the people on the buses, with their passports, for the knowledge of the people in Klang. As to my knowledge, they all have been released,” he added.