'We acted to save under-aged cyclists'

The police stopped a team of more than 50 riders in Jerit's ‘Ride for Change' campaign in Rawang yesterday in order to "save under-aged cyclists" from being exploited.

"We detained them for (taking part in an) illegal procession. Later when we checked their details, 28 were found to be under the age of 18...clearly this violates the Child Act as some are only 15 years old," said Selangor police chief Khalid Abu Bakar.

"When giving their statements, these children said they did not know why they were asked to participate in the cycling event," he told reporters at the Rawang police station last night.

"As for the children, we have actually saved them from being misused and exploited by irresponsible people... we did not arrest them."

He also said the police had contacted their parents to take them home and would investigate whether the children had received permission to take part in the event.

Another 29 cyclists were arrested and investigated under the Police Act for illegal procession, and under the Child Act for abusing children.

Among them were Rawang assemblywoman Gan Pei Nie of PKR and Sungai Siput member of Parliament Dr D Jeyakumar of PSM ( photo: with loudhailer ).

Khalid also told reporters that the teenagers were confused about the purpose of the expedition.

"We will call their parents to take them (home). We will also call the child service unit to discuss details of returning the children to their parents."

'No permit issued'

Khalid said Gan had not applied for a permit to allow the cyclists to ride pass through Rawang, denying her claim that she had reached a verbal understanding with the Rawang police chief.

Khalid dismissed this, saying "there is no such thing as a verbal agreement".

"Permits must be written. I was informed by the police chief that no application was made," he added.

The teenagers were kept at the Rawang police station overnight, and are expected to be released to their parents today.

Those detained - including Gan and Jeyakumar - were released at about 3am. They however remained with the younger cyclists.

The nationwide cycling campaign, organised by the Jaringan Rakyat Tertindas (Jerit), is on the final leg of a 16-day nationwide journey.

The campaign has seen much drama over the days with arrests and roadblocks. Several bicycles were torched by arsonists.

Two teams of cyclists had begun the journey simultaneously from Kedah and Johor on Dec 3 to raise public awareness of issues like food shortage, environmental problems, draconian laws and the impending economic crisis.

The riders are scheduled to reach Kuala Lumpur on Thursday to submit a memorandum to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim at Parliament House.

Jerit has accused the police of harassment and submitted a memorandum to the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) on the matter.

Police acts condemned

PSM in a strongly-worded statement today condemned the "arrest, harassment, intimidation, humiliation and ill-treatment of the cyclists and activists".

"The police stooped low today when they claimed that the children were exploited", he said, also condemning the use of the Police Act and Child Act to start investigations.

"This is utter rubbish coming from the police force, which has long lost its credibility," said PSM secretary-general S Arutchelvan.

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He added that all the young cyclists had obtained parental consent.