Teresa Kok

Many papers, especially Chinese dailies in Malaysia have highlighted the press conference of the Human Rights Caucus in Parliament on Wednesday.

Nazri was very happy with the coverage.

Then, again, I received calls from the media in China on the harassment of police.

Local press asked whether I will bring the girls to lodge another police report as the CPO of Selangor asked them to do so as reported in Sin Chew Jit Poh. The girls are so worried and scared now. They are under so much pressures till they are thinking to leave this country or shift to somewhere else to avoid the police.

They also suspect they are being followed by the police. They have been blamed by their friends for going against the police as the police is retaliating by raiding the Karaoke and pubs to hunt for China ladies who work illegally here now.

I had dinner with them last nigh with MP Tan Kok Wai and MP Fong Kui Lun. We just tried to assure them that no police will dare to harass them at night after the Cabinet decision. According to Nazri, the cabinet has discussed the police retaliation case, and PM will meet with the police after he comes back from overseas today.

After the police harassment on these China nationals, I have to leave on my mobile phone even when I am asleep at night, so that they can call me if such things happen to them again.

In order not to provoke the police further, I have declined all interviews from the local media on their behalf. These women are being projected as heroines by the Chinese media now, but they are actually very vulnerable and worried after what had happened to them few days ago.

They told me that her friends in China told them that there is a lot of adverse publicity about Malaysia in the China media after this incident. The police has done a real bad job and has bad PR in the whole issue. The government would have to accept the police’s bad actions are some of the reasons for the decline in tourists from China coming here.

While Nazri got so much publicity in the news paper over this issue, I noticed that Noh Omar felt left out now. In the night edition of China Press, he blamed the women for going to the DAP and not him as police is under his jurisdiction. I called him last night and explained to him that it was Nazri who suggested these women come to Parliament and Nazri met them in the capacity as Human Rights Caucus chairman.

The women did not intend to ignore him while they were in the Parliament building. It was only because they didn’t recognise him and they cannot converse in English and Malay. He sounded OK after my explanation and attempt to pacifify him. I have to talk to him as I need his help to follow up on this issue in future.