A group of 107 lawyers today asked Petaling Jaya police for a written apology to Cheah Kah Peng, a member of the Malaysian Bar, who was arrested and "treated badly" while he performed his legal duty in representing KeADILan vice president Tian Chua last Sunday.

In a memorandum sent to PJ police station this morning, the lawyers also demanded immediate action to be taken against police officers who had treated Cheah aggressively during three hours of detention at the police station.

According to the memorandum, when Cheah requested access to his client, Tian Chua, who was arrested at a restaurant in Petaling Jaya several hours earlier, several police officers had pushed him away, causing him to suffer bruises on his arm.

Cheah also witnessed that Tian had been "roughly treated" and pushed into a room and he had protested over the incident, states the memorandum, which was presented by lawyers Charles Hector and N. Surendran to PJ Deputy OCPD Supt. Hussein Ismail.

"Before I handed Tian to the investigation officer, police had acted aggressively. Tian was very worried and wanted me to accompany him to avoid any violence," Cheah, who was having lunch with Tian during the latter's arrest on Sunday, told malaysiakini by telephone today from Penang.

"As a lawyer, I felt that my client was at risk, I have no guarantee that he would not be abused," Cheah said, explaining why he followed the police party to the station.

"(At the station) Tian was pushed with so much force, I yelled at them, 'Please don't push him!'" However, the next thing was I was pushed away from Tian."

A plainclothes policeman who was identified as ASP Nasir stated that Cheah was being arrested for obstructing the police in their investigations, Cheah was quoted in the memorandum.

Cheah was later taken to the lock-up where he was ordered to strip but the order was withdrawn after he removed his shirt and socks. He was released on the police bail after a statement under Section 113 was recorded from Cheah.

The 107 lawyers' signatures were collected within one hour this morning to go with the memorandum, which also demanded a firm assurance that the police will not resort to such conduct in future.

"As a lawyer, Cheah has the right to represent his client. If that right is undermined, then the judiciary and the whole system will be in question," Charles Hector told the press outside the PJ police station.

"We object to the the bad and abusive treatment on Cheah, and we express our serious dissatisfaction on the case," N. Surendran said.

Lawyer Charles Hector speaks to journalists

after submitting the petition to PJ police.