KUALA LUMPUR: A red-faced Datuk Siva Subramaniam was forced to leave a meeting at the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) here Friday after members of several civil society organisations demanded that he should not be present.
When the Suhakam commissioner sat down to moderate the event, the 70-odd participants unanimously agreed that he was "inappropriate" for the meeting.
The organisations had scheduled an appointment with Suhakam in protest of the police's actions on Sunday during the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) rally.
Led by Groups of Concerned Citizens coordinator Charles Santiago, they asked for Siva's absence because of previous newspaper reports quoting him that the police had "done the right thing” by forcefully dispersing the crowd during the Bersih rally which took place on Nov 10.
"His stand on such issues contradicts what we have to say here today. So we politely request that he leaves this meeting," said Charles.
Suhakam Commissioner Prof Datuk Khoo Kay Kim then took over the event.
Charles, in his preamble to Khoo, urged the commission to look into the incident at Batu Caves where many devotees were allegedly hurt.
Four victims of the incident also came forward, and gave short accounts of the injuries and the grief they suffered.
Charles later added that they were also upset over Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz's comments in newspapers referring to Indians as thugs and ruffians.
He then presented a memorandum listing various recommendations for improvement to such situations to Khoo.
During an interview, Khoo said the matter would be brought up to the commission immediately.
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