KUCHING: About 100 family members, relatives and friends of the late Chung Soon Teck gathered at the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Headquarters here armed with banners to protest Chung’s shooting. His wife had lodged a police report in Kuching on the matter. Banners written in Mandarin calling the shooting ‘cruel’, ‘seeking justice’, ‘pay back my life’ and ‘killing a scapegoat’ were held up by Chung’s family members and relative during the protest.
Chung was shot in Pontianak after Indonesian police claimed that he was a drug dealer who was trying to escape from their custody last Saturday night.
Three other Indonesians were arrested a few days earlier in connection with the case. Chung’s family members have sought the assistance of chairman of SUPP Kota Sentosa Branch, Wilfred Yap. Yap told repor ters that he would write to Sarawak Police Commissioner, Interpol and Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get to the bottom of the matter. He said he would also request SUPP present, Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian to ask Sarawak General Hospital to speed up Chung’s post mortem as the family wanted to bury Chung.
Chung’s remains were taken back on Tuesday night. A police report was lodged also lodged at Siburan Police station. His remains were later taken to Sarawak General Hospital’s morgue for a post mortem. Three of Chung’s friends have gone to Pontianak last Saturday for a holiday.
Two of Chung’s friends were at a press conference yesterday while the other has gone to Kota Kinabalu. According to the two friends, they have travelled to Pontianak in a 4WD vehicle dr iven by Chung and ar r ived at about 7pm. After the four alighted from the 4WD vehicle at a checkpoint in Pontianak, Indonesia, they were surrounded by 10 men who took away their mobile phones.
The 10 men were armed with automatic rifles and pistols. One of Chung’s three friends known as ‘A’ said he was accompanied by a few Indonesian men and driven separately in a vehicle while the other two were driven away in another vehicle.
Chung was driven away in another car accompanied by a few Indonesian men. After they arrived at a place, the four were handcuffed after they alighted from the vehicles they were in and handed over to a group of men who claimed to be Indonesian Narcotic police. ‘A’ said he kept asking in the car why were they arrested but no one answered him. The four were then told to wait for a woman officer and that was when ‘A’ noticed that Chung was not with them. After about an hour, two women came and one walked to ‘A’ and scolded him for being brave.
‘A’ said he had no idea what the woman was talking about and she told him not to pretend. The woman then said they were selling drugs in Indonesia as 3 kgs of drugs were found in a vehicle. ‘A’ said he asked where the drug was found and was told that it was a different vehicle, a four wheel drive vehicle two days ago. ‘A’ also asked if no drug was found in the vehicle they were travelling in, why were they arrested. After more than an hour of questioning has passed which the three denied knowing about the drugs, the woman officer returned their mobile phones and placed their identity cards on top of each mobile phones and took pictures. The woman also asked each of them if they were involved and they all replied in the negative.
The woman officer then told them that Chung has confessed to possessing the drugs and claimed that his three friends were not involved. She then told the three that they were free to go. However, before they left, the three were taken to a room where Chung was.
The three then requested for permission to speak to Chung and were told that they must converse in Malay so that they can be understood. When ‘A’ looked at Chung, he felt that Chung wanted to tell him something but was unable to talk. So ‘A’ asked Chung, ‘Do you want me to tell your wife that you have been arrested? Chung just nodded.
The three then broke down and cried and said that that was the last time they saw Chung alive. They were then taken to a hotel and as dawn broke, the three left for Kuching. Chung’s wife said last Sunday she received a phone call telling her that her husband has been arrested. She and her brother and two brothers-in-law then went to Pontianak to meet her husband. She said she pleaded with the authority to see her husband but they refused and instead asked her to buy Chung a shirt as his shirt was wet and he was crying.
Shortly after that, when she surfed the Internet she came across a news report that a Sarawakian has been shot dead the night before. She then went to the Malaysian Consulate Office and was advised to lodge a police report but the police refused to take the report. On Tuesday night they returned with Chung’s remains and wanted answers to all the happenings.
Chung’s wife said that from the news report, it meant that Chung was shot dead after his three friends were taken to a hotel. Of the three Indonesians arrested for drugs, ‘A’ said they knew one of them as the Indonesian used to repair his vehicle at Chung’s auto shop. Chung left behind his wife and two daughters aged 17 and 20.
