A veteran Chinese educationist campaigning for the Indera Kayangan by-election lashed out at the police today for preventing a private meeting at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall in Kuala Lumpur.

Loot Ting Yee, deputy chairperson of the Chinese education movement Dong Zong, said the police acted in a "militant" manner when they interfered with the meeting last night.

The meeting was to discuss a proposal urging the government to reconsider its decision to convert a Chinese school in USJ, Selangor, into a Vision School.

"It was a private meeting between the USJ board of governors. They have an office in the building and they followed all the rules and regulations pertaining to peaceful assembly," Loot told malaysiakini in Kangar, Perlis.

Loot, 72, described the police action as "emotional and a total disregard for the rule of law".

He also criticised the media for not reporting the incident despite sending journalists to cover the event.

"The total blackout in the media is an attempt by the government to cover-up the truth. This is against freedom of expression and information," said Loot.

All mainstream newspapers today, with the exception of The Sun, failed to carry the barring of the meeting.

It is learnt that The Sun - which is currently facing an internal crisis over the mass sacking of its journalists - published a Bernama report on the incident by mistake and the authorities have issued a warning to its editors.

Yesterday, some 20 police personnel blocked the entrance to the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall building just before the meeting was about to commence. The indoor meeting was declared illegal because it did not have a police permit.

The United Chinese School Committees' Association or Dong Zong had planned for a meeting last night to oppose the government's move to build a Vision School in Subang Jaya, when a promised Chinese school has yet to be built.

About 300 representatives from various Chinese associations and organisations were barred from entering the venue.

After negotiations with the police that lasted for two hours, the organising party decided to postpone the meeting.

Act of intimidation

Meanwhile, Keadilan condemned the Home Ministry for mobilising police personnel to "beseige" the meeting.

Party deputy president Abdul Rahman Othman described the police action as "barbaric and a blatant violation of the basic rights of the group, who are citizens of Malaysia".

"We are utterly dismayed and indignant at the intimidation of the police to suppress the rights of the Chinese group to peaceful assembly," said Rahman, in a statement issued in Kangar today.

"This is the second time the Barisan Nasional government has shown its disrespect to the building that is vitally significant to the Chinese community in Malaysia," he added.

The first incident, he said, was when deputy Umno Youth chief Abdul Aziz Sheik Fadzil allegedly threatened to raze the building when another Chinese group based there refused to withdraw its 17-points appeals, which allegedly questioned Malays special rights.

Meanwhile, Rahman also questioned the motive behind the police's action yesterday as the hall is a private property.

"The police should not have resorted to taking excessive action against an indoor meeting unless they wanted to create fear and anxiety among the people," he said.

According to section 27A of the Police Act, any police officer can order individuals involved in an indoor gathering to disperse if the activity is deemed to be prejudicial to national security or to incite public disturbance.