The hearing into the long awaited RM83 million civil suit - filed by a group of prominent local human rights activists and journalists - for wrongful detention after a Umno Youth-led mob stormed an international conference - kicked off today with a key witness recalling how the incident took place.

On Nov 9, 1996, over 100 people - including 10 journalists - were arrested on the opening day of the Second Asia Pacific Conference on East Timor (Apcet II), held to discuss human rights abuses in East Timor and the troubled territory's struggle for independence from Indonesia.

However, as the conference was about to begin, 400 members of the Umno Youth-led Barisan Bertindak Rakyat Malaysia (BBRM), or Malaysia's People's Action Front, stormed the meeting at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur. They broke down the conference hall's doors, threw chairs and verbally and physically abused the participants.

Police then moved in to arrest the participants, who were detained for between one to six days while 40 foreign participants were deported. The activists later filed their suit to claim damages for alleged mistreatment by the authorities during their arrest and detention.

Megat Junid's advice

Testifying at the Kuala Lumpur High Court today, the first witness for the plaintiffs, Dr Sanusi Osman, 70, who was then the spokesperson of Apcet II - recalled his involvement in the organising the conference 10 years ago.

He told the court that prior to the conference, then deputy home minister Megat Junid Megat Ayob ( photo ) had asked to meet with the conference's organisers.

On Nov 4, 1996 - five days before the conference was held - Sanusi and two non-governmental organisation representatives, Fan Yew Teng and R Sivarasa, met with Megat Junid.

"Megat Junid suggested to us to cancel the conference as the government's stand was that East Timor was part of Indonesia's territory and Malaysia would like to keep good ties with the Indonesian government, thus the conference was not advisable to be held here," he said.

Sanusi - who was then secretary-general of opposition Parti Rakyat Malaysia and now supreme council member of Parti Keadilan Rakyat - said the organisers nonetheless decided to proceed with the conference.

On the morning of the conference's opening day, Sanusi said he was in the secretariat room when he suddenly heard loud noises and angry shouting. It became louder when the intruders approached the conference hall and they were singing a patriotic song called 'Barisan Kita', he said.

"I heard a few intruders call my name a few times. Apart from my name, they also shouted the names of Fan Yew Teng, Dr Syed Husin (Ali), Dr Kua (Kia Soong) and Sivarasa demanding that we leave the conference venue," said the veteran politician.

In view of the situation, Sanusi said he and two other workers in the secretariat room tied the door handle with a rope and put a few tables in front of the door to prevent the intruders from entering the room for their own safety.

A 'samseng' culture

He only left the room about an hour later after a police officer and three hotel security staff came to accompany him to the conference hall, where he saw some of the hundreds of intruders leaving the hall on police instruction. However, about 20 of them refused to budge.

Sanusi ( photo, far right ) said the hall was in a mess - the doors were broken, chairs and tables were strewn everywhere. "All that was an uncivilised and immoral act. They acted like triad members or gangsters who don't respect the law. This is the samseng culture they practise."

He added that after the foreign participants were rounded-up and escorted out of the hotel by the police, the remaining participants were detained in the conference hall.

When later, the participants decided to hold a meeting among them, Dang Wangi OCPD Zainal Abidin Ali told them: "You are having a meeting. I order you to disperse, otherwise you will be arrested."

When one of the organisers interjected and appealed to the police for two minutes to let the participants gather their personal belongings, Zainal was alleged to have immediately ordered: "Arrest them. Bring in the FRU (Federal Reserve Unit)," the court was told.

The 36 men and 20 women were then arrested and sent to the Dang Wangi police lock-up. Sanusi in his testimony also told the court about the deplorable situation in the cell where he was held for two days until he was released due to ill health.

Witness's testimony disputed

During cross-examination, Senior Federal Counsel Kamaludin Mohd Said suggested to Sanusi that the organisers had ignored advice by the government to cancel the meeting.

He also suggested that the conference organisers did not take into consideration the advice by Megat Junid to be mindful of maintaining the good bilateral ties between Malaysia and Indonesia.

Sanusi disagreed, arguing that Megat Junid's instruction was an 'advice' not a 'directive'. He said the organisers decided to proceed with the meeting as they were not breaking any law given that the meeting was being held behind closed doors and was by invitation only.

When Kamaludin asked Sanusi whether the cabinet had also disapproved the holding of Apcet II, Justice Wan Adnan Muhamad interjected: "How could the witness know?". This led to laughter among those in the public gallery, many of whom are plaintiffs in the law suit.

At one point during the cross-examination, the judge also ticked off Kamaludin, asking the senior federal counsel not to repeat the same questions which the witness had already answered to the court in his testimony.

"When the sky is blue, then the sky is blue. You are repeating the questions, I am not going to write the same thing. You want me to write the same thing?" asked Wan Adnan.

Kamaludin told the court that he needed to ask what should be asked, but the judge responded that he had the right to determine which questions were relevant to the case.

At one juncture, Kamaludin opposed the use of the term 'intruders' in reference to the BBRM members. He suggested it should be replaced with 'undesirable persons' or 'third parties' but this was overruled by Wan Adnan as it was a question of terminology and no one had disputed the fact that BBRM members were indeed 'intruders'.

The cross-examination of Sanusi continues tomorrow, with another nine witnesses expected to be called to testify.

Kamaludin was assisted by Federal Counsel Morhaji Selamat and Syahrina Mohd Shahir while the plaintiffs are represented by lead counsel Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, who appeared with M Moganambal, Abdul Rashid Ismail, Ang Hean Leng and Gregory Ling.

High-profile plaintiffs

A number of the high-profile plaintiffs also turned up in court today including Malaysian Trade Union Congress president Syed Shahir Syed Mohammad, PKR deputy president Dr Syed Husin Ali, vice-president R Sivarasa and New Era College principal Dr Kua Kia Soong.

Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan and chief executive officer Premesh Chandran, then journalists at The Sun , were also among the plaintiffs present.

They have named the government, then inspector-general of police Abdul Rahim Mohd Noor and two senior police officers - then Kuala Lumpur chief police officer Ismail Che Rose and then Dang Wangi OCPD Zainal - as respondents in the multi-million ringgit suit.

The government in its statement of defence alleged that the arrests were bona fide (in good faith) to preserve public order after the participants ignored police orders to disperse.

The police claimed that they had adhered to all criminal code procedures and lock-up rules at all times during the arrests and detention of the plaintiffs.

No charges were filed against those arrested. However, four Umno Youth leaders including a state assemblyperson were later arrested and charged in court with rioting. They pleaded guilty and were each fined RM1,500.

Day 1: Witness: Umno Youth-led mob acted like 'samsengs'

Day 2: Mob called us traitors, says witness

Day 3: Syed Husin: I was assaulted

Sparks fly at Apcet II trial