The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) will decide on Feb 12 whether to probe the allegation that excessive force was used in the arrest of 22 individuals during a demonstration last Sunday.

"Suhakam recognises that the police is allowed to use some force. The question is whether the force used was excessive," said commissioner Dr Michael Yeoh.

He told malaysiakini this after receiving a complaint memorandum from DAP Selangor regarding the incident at the commission headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today.

The protest was held against the hike in toll charges for five highways in the Klang Valley.

It was broken up by the police as protestors gathered in two separate locations near the 11th Mile toll booth of the Cheras-Kajang Expressway.

At least three individuals have claimed that they were injured as a result of police brutality.

Video evidence

Earlier, Yeoh was shown a video of the protest where Ho Chee Loong, 28, was allegedly roughed up by police personnel during the process of arrest and later punched in the groin by a plain-clothed policeman while being handcuffed in a police truck.

Yeoh also heard from banker Tan Han Kuok, 40, who was taking pictures during the incident, about how he was allegedly punched on the back of his head before being arrested.

Businessman Yap Kok Heng (right), 48 told Yeoh that he was arrested when he reprimanded a plain-clothes officer who had allegedly assaulted Tan.

"At the time I didn't even know Tan [...] all I did was tell the policeman that if he was to arrest someone, he should not hit him," said Yap, who specified that he was a bystander and not taking part in the protest.

DAP NGO bureau chief Ronnie Liu said the police personnel who had allegedly used excessive force were not in uniform.

"They were not in uniform and not wearing any kind of identification and these are the people who beat us. This is a dangerous precedence because you won't know who is assaulting you," he said.

Establish IPCMC

Yeoh said he would relay the complaints at the commissioners' meeting on Monday.

"It looks like there have been some cases of excessive force and that can be construed as a human rights violation," he said when asked if he was convinced that human rights were violated during the incident.

He also reiterated Suhakam's call to the government to form the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).

In a related development, Yeoh said the Suhakam report on a public inquiry concerning alleged police brutality during a May 28, 2006 demonstration would be released at the earliest in February.

"Its taking us a lot of time to complete the report because we are referring to different legal systems (in other countries) pertaining to freedom of assembly," he explained.

He said the report would contain clear guidelines pertaining to the handling of peaceful assemblies which he hoped would be adopted by the authorities and the police.

The demonstration, commonly referred to as the Bloody Sunday incident, was held to protest the hike in fuel prices.