KUALA LUMPUR: Nineteen-year-old Ong Sing Yee has admitted stomping on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s picture during the Merdeka eve celebration and has apologised  for her act.

The part-time model said she was not aware her act would generate so much attention and that she had no intention to commit sedition

“I apologise to the public which also include the PM. I did not think that it was so serious or imagined that it could be investigated (under the Sedition Act).

“I had no ill intentions,” said Ong, though her legal adviser Eric Tan, at a press conference at the DAP headquarters here yesterday.

Stressing that Ong did not intend to humiliate the prime minister, Tan said she saw everyone “doing something” and thought it would be fun to join in.

Ong is among 11 people wanted by the police in connection with alleged wrongdoings during the “Janji Demokrasi” gathering organised by a group of NGOs.

Ong, from Johor, turned herself in at the Johor Baru central police station on Wednesday. She was arrested and taken in a car to Kuala Lumpur to have her statement recorded.
Ong said she was not particularly surprised when told she was being investigated, adding that she was willing to “cooperate” with the police.

Accompanying her was her friend, Lim Kian Peng, 20, who was also at the event but not among those sought by police.

Lim said although he was not sought by police, he was detained after he told them he had attended the Merdeka eve gathering.

Like Ong, he too was handcuffed and asked to sign a statement of admission by the police in Johor Baru.

Both of them arrived in Kuala Lumpur at around 10pm on Wednesday and were questioned until 2am yesterday. Ong was released on bail while Lim was freed without the need to post bail. They have to report back to the police on Oct 5.

They are both being investigated under Section 4(1)(b) of the Sedition Act.

The two said they had travelled to Kuala Lumpur with friends on Merdeka eve with the intention of visiting Sunway Lagoon.

As it was already night when they arrived, they decided to attend the Merdeka eve event after being informed about it by the staff of the hotel they had booked.
Ong said the police in Johor were very concerned about obtaining her red “Ubah” DAP t-shirt which she wore on the day of the gathering.

Stressing that she did not belong to any political party, she said she had only purchased the t-shirt on the night of the gathering.

Ong is the second person to be questioned by police in relation to the “Janji Demokrasi” gathering. The first was a college student who allegedly flashed his buttocks on photographs of Najib and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor. The student was released on bail after his statement was recorded.


Tarani is a writer with soon-to-be-launched fz.com


This article is appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on 7 September, 2012.