Student group calling for end to death penalty claims 'police intimidation'
Members of a group calling for an end to the death penalty say they were questioned and intimidated by the police while engaging peacefully with residents in Limbang, even as one resident says they were harassed.
Students Actions for Transformative Justice (Satu), made an Instagram post on Sept 22 stating that the police were called on them for what they describe as "door-knocking and talking to residents to understand their sentiments on the death penalty" two days earlier.
The post, which had more than 550 reactions at press time after comments were disabled, says that eight officers "interrogated" the group for an hour and a half in what they called a disproportionate response. In two video clips included in the post, two of the officers can be heard speaking in what appears to be a casual tone.
"Do the police really need to send 8 or 9 officers to follow up on a tip that some people are going door-to-door to have conversations about the death penalty? There is no report of us being violent, rowdy or harassing anyone," the caption in the post states.
'I told them to leave or I will call the police'
However, a Reddit post suggests that residents did not take well to the group, with a Redditor detailing an unpleasant encounter with two of the group's members.
No_Telephone_9106, who said they live at 537 Choa Chu Kang Street 51, wrote that two girls knocked on their door to give a brochure promoting "some protest against the death penalty next week at Speaker's corner".
When the Redditor returned the brochure and said they were not interested, "one of the girls asked us why we support the government 'murdering innocents', and said we should know that the death penalty does nothing to stop drugs".
The Redditor added that the other girl took down her unit number and did not reply when asked what she was doing.
"I was quite upset so I told them to leave or I will call the police," said the Redditor, who added that they saw the group with police officers when they went downstairs an hour later.
No_Telephone_9106's account has since been suspended. The post had received 907 upvotes and 115 comments at press time, almost all of which were critical of the group's actions.
One commented: "The way they position themselves as victims is so living in their warped world. Residents who feel uncomfortable have all the right to report them."
Another sympathised with the resident: "The experience sounds so awful for you. They're crossing a line here (some might say they crossed it some time ago)."
One Redditor, alluding to the resident's account of being accused of supporting the "murder" of innocents, asked: "How are drug traffickers innocent?"
"I don't agree with them but I think it is ok for them to go door to door seeking support. But I also feel that if someone told them they are not interested, they should just move on and not start a debate with them," said another netizen.
The police declined to comment on the incident.
Satu held a vigil on Sept 23 for Datchinamurthy Kataiah, a convicted drug trafficker who was scheduled to hang at dawn on Sept 25.
On the same day, police said they were looking into a group of individuals who turned up at the Istana to deliver two letters seeking clemency for four inmates on death row. Ten days earlier, Satu posted on Instagram about delivering the letters, which were addressed to the President and Prime Minister.
