By P Ramakrishnan, Aliran’s President | 2 August 2011

Considering the fact that all these six citizens were accused of very serious offences in the first instance and subsequently cleared, this news that they will be charged tomorrow is disturbing to Malaysians.

The police initially accused them of treason, which if proven would make them traitors to the country. This is a terrible accusation. One would think that without solid proof this accusation would not be levelled against them.

Mysteriously, this accusation simply disappeared into thin air. Next they were accused of posing a threat to public order. This, again, is a serious offence. Malaysians were anxiously waiting to be convinced in what ways these six were a threat to public order. Strangely, nothing was produced to support the police claim.

We understand that in the papers that were served on them they were accused of being prime movers of Bersih 2.0. But where is the evidence? Those responsible for the Bersih 2.0 ‘Walk for Democracy’ were 62 NGOs. No political party was part of the Bersih 2.0 Steering Committee. These six are members of a political party. How then could they have been prime movers of Bersih 2.0?

One accusation after another was resorted to in the vain attempt to incriminate the six. Some would even say that lie after lie were concocted to fix them. Unfortunately for the police, nothing worked for them.

Because the police were unable to produce an iota of evidence, they were compelled to release the six unconditionally.

As far as thinking Malaysians are concerned, that was the end of the story. The six were free to go without being further harassed. The state had nothing against them. The state had no hold over them.

This is why it is difficult to understand why the police would now want to charge them. Is this the vengeance of the state for failing to incriminate them?