PRESS STATEMENT – PARTI SOSIALIS MALAYSIA
22ND DEC 2023

View a video of the incident here

A PSM Central Committee member as well as a farmer activist, Chong Yee Shan, was notified by one Inspector Shahril from IPD Ipoh yesterday that she will be charged under Section 186 Penal Code at the Ipoh Magistrate Court on December 27, 2023. We believe the charge is related to the eviction exercise carried out by developers, PTG, and the police on October 24, 2023, at the Kanthan vegetable farm in Tambun, Perak.

Section 186 reads, whoever voluntarily obstructs any public servant in the discharge of his public functions. The charge carries imprisonment for a term of two years or a fine of up to ten thousand ringgit.

PSM condemns the charge that the eviction operation itself, carried out on October 24, is highly disputed and an abuse of power. The eviction issues continue to be heard in the Ipoh High Court.

During the forced eviction process, Chong Yee Shan was injured after being shoved by a Perak Land and Mines (PTG) officer. Yee Shan sustained a serious injury to her right orbit (eye socket) with a fracture adjacent to the nose. This has affected her vision.

She now sees double in certain directions and is currently undergoing treatment.

A total of 45 police reports were lodged nation-wide by individuals and organisations against the PTG officer for violently injuring an activist, which demanded the police take action. A statement co-signed by the Kuala Lumpur Residents Action Plus for Sustainable Development, Alliance of River Three, Forum Kedaulatan Makanan Malaysia (FKMM), Pertubuhan Pelindung Khazakh Alam, Aliran Malaysia, and Greenpeace Malaysia also condemned the incident and demanded justice for Yee Shan and the farmers.

In spite of all this outcry, the police and DPP have now resorted to charging the victim of state violence, Yee Shan herself. This investigation and outcome is totally unbecoming and this is a real case of double standard when the victim is now charged while the perpetrator seems vindicated.

PSM calls upon the Attorney General to intervene and relook at this case as it points at a blatant lop-sided justice. We call for the charges against Yee Shan to be dropped and instead a fresh investigation being carried out by neutral investigators from other neutral police district as we believe that manner in which the Ipoh District IPD has conducted itself in this dispute as highly bias and unconvincing. Previously there has been many reports lodged against the police for not being neutral

S. Arutchelvan
Deputy Chairperson
Parti Sosialis Malaysia