Malaysia

Cops intimidate doctors in #HartalDoktorKontrak protests

Police, Special Branch officers threaten protesters with compounds

Updated 2 years ago · Published on 26 Jul 2021 2:15PM

Cops intimidate doctors in #HartalDoktorKontrak protests
Doctors participating in the #HartalKontrakDoktor movement today at Sg Buloh Hospital. – SAIRIEN NAFIS/The Vibes pic, July 26, 2021

by Arjun Mohanakrishnan

KUALA LUMPUR – Sg Buloh Hospital and Kuala Lumpur Hospital doctors who participated in the #HartalKontrakDoktor movement today faced police intimidation.

Outside Sg Buloh Hospital, even media personnel were questioned by a man who identified himself as a Special Branch officer, and asked what was on the placards the medical officers were carrying.

There were two groups of doctors who staged a walkout at Sg Buloh Hospital.

Two medical officers clad in black from the first group attempted to answer questions by the media, before what seemed to be a plainclothes police officer shouted at them rudely to go away.

The doctors, who were clearly shaken by the incident, left the scene and refused to answer any more questions by the media.

When another group of doctors staged their walkout half an hour later at the same hospital, a medical officer managed to answer brief questions from the press.

The same plainclothes police officer also questioned the doctor before media personnel alerted the doctor that the person was not with the press.

Later another plainclothes officer placed his camera near the faces of the doctors and said: “We are going to compound all of them.”

Doctors clad in black participating in #HartalKontrakDoktor speak to media at Kuala Lumpur Hospital. – ALIF OMAR/The Vibes pic, July 26, 2021
Doctors clad in black participating in #HartalKontrakDoktor speak to media at Kuala Lumpur Hospital. – ALIF OMAR/The Vibes pic, July 26, 2021

As the doctors gathered at a bus stop and media personnel attempted to speak to them, a police patrol vehicle arrived and blasted its sirens. The officers instructed the doctors via their speakers to stop gathering or be compounded.

Meanwhile at Kuala Lumpur Hospital, junior medical officers staged a walkout but found themselves facing police officers from Dang Wangi who ordered the doctors to stop gathering.

In Seremban’s Tuanku Ja’afar Hospital, police seemed more lenient with the medical officers on strike. Authorities gave the doctors 10 minutes to perform their walkout.

After the allotted time, police officers asked the doctors to disperse.

However, the same could not be said for the police officers tasked with observing the walkout at the Covid-19 low risk treatment and quarantine centre in MAEPS Serdang.

@HartalDoktorKontrak tweeted an hour ago that the doctors in MAEPS were threatened with police arrest. – The Vibes, July 26, 2021

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