FRU acted according to procedures

If allegations of excessive use of force by the police, in particular the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU), during the July 9 illegal rally here hold water, hundreds of protestors would have sought medical treatment, says a retired FRU commander.
Going by such allegations, the protestors would have either been hospitalised or the least, given out-patient treatment, noted Sulaiman Menga Din.
FRU personnel, he said, were trained to use minimal force in dispersing demonstrators as provided for under the law, and observe standard operating procedures.
He said all police personnel were strictly required to obey the orders which were minuted, including the alleged indiscriminate firing of tear gas canisters.
"Each time, FRU men are required to be on the ground, they undergo briefing based on the information received on the expected crowd, the issues involved, and whether they were armed, and other relevent information,” Sulaiman told Bernama in an interview today.
He said during the July 9 illegal rally, officers involved in the operation were told to, not only prevent crowds from gathering in the city centre but also thwart possible clashes among rival groups of demonstrators.
“You must understand that nowadays, almost every single action or movement is being recorded and within minutes, it is uploaded on the websites and viewers can follow, even unfolding almost live.
"Here”s the problem for the police...viewers were not cautioned or trained to filter information fed to them or what the actual incidents were, occuring at the scene,” said Sulaiman.
He said the problems occured when only selected or isolated incidents were highlighted and the police were not given the opportunity to defend themselves.
Sulaiman, who was FRU commander between 1996-99, said people failed to understand procedures adopted by the riot police in the country, as compared to other countries.
"Almost every day, there are news channels highlighting how demonstrators were mistreated, and the excessive use of force by riot police even in so-called countries championing human rights,” he said.
Sulaiman said, based on his experience in 1998, it was a difficult task to round up some 1,600 demonstrators and screen them before releasing them by 9pm.
He said, not even 10 people turned up the next morning at police stations to lodge reports if they had really been mistreated.
"But people just talk about injuries sustained among demonstrators. What about our men who were injured during demonstrations in 1998, where catapults and stones were used against them?,” he asked.
Sulaiman noted, even when Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his bodyguard claimed they were hit by tear gas canisters, they were allowed to seek treatment at a private medical centre of their choice and the police did not stop or threaten to arrest them.
He stressed that each policeman was trained to respect an individual”s rights and to only step in, if they violated the law.
“What we saw on July 9, was that the demonstrators had violated and showed disrespect to the laws and our men in blue were just carrying out their duties as required...as simple as that,” he said.
On the recruitment of FRU personnel, Sulaiman said those with the right qualities, especially the “cool-headed” ones, and well-versed with the laws, were given priority.
Sulaiman said post-mortems were also regularly conducted to identify weaknesses or any wrongdoing by officers or personnel during operations.
"In the past, action was taken against our men, including dismissing them from the unit (FRU),” he said. - Bernama