The Electric New Paper :
Woman in nude squat video tells police:
Pay me $4m or I'll sue
She hires lawyers, sets 2-week deadline
THE woman at the centre of the nude squat video controversy that
rocked Malaysia is now demanding compensation from the government
and the police.
19 July 2006
THE woman at the centre of the nude squat video controversy that
rocked Malaysia is now demanding compensation from the government
and the police.
Ms Hemy Hamisa Abu Hassan Saari, 23, has threatened to sue if she
is not paid RM10 million ($4.3m).
She filed a letter of demand yesterday asking for a reply within
the next 14 days.
At a press conference in his office yesterday, Ms Hemy's lawyer Mr
Baljit Singh Sidhu gave wrongful and negligent detention as the
reasons for the claim.
He added that his client had been publicly humiliated as a result
of this incident.
He said: 'Although it has been a year since the incident, she is
still traumatised.'
The nude squat saga began on 29 Jun last year, when Ms Hemy and
five others were arrested for alleged drug possession.
At the Petaling Jaya police station, she was made to strip naked
and perform squats.
SECRET RECORDING
Unknown to her, a police officer at the station recorded the
incident with a handphone camera.
The 70-second video began to circulate via MMS.
It made headlines when it surfaced in the Malaysian media in
November.
The woman in the video was initially wrongly identified as a
Chinese national, sparking off a protest from China.
It was only in December last year that Ms Hemy came forward to say
that she was the one who had been filmed.
Because of this episode, the Malaysian authorities set up a Nude
Squat Inquiry Commission.
A probe was conducted on police strip-search procedures.
Ms Hemy told reporters: 'I am very unhappy because of the way the
police handled this matter. What happened to me was not
fair.'
She was at the press conference with her husband Kamarul Hamri Mohd
Latif and her father-in-law Mohd Latif Daud.
She also told The Star that she hoped that anyone who had the video
would destroy it.
She added: 'I cannot even get out of my house these days without
getting stares. I am scared, ashamed and embarrassed.
DIRTY LOOKS
'I just don't know where to put my face when people who suspected
or knew I was the woman in the video give me dirty looks.'
She and her husband wanted to move out of Kuala Lumpur, to a place
where no one recognised her.
But they could not afford to, as they were both unemployed.
Ms Hemy said she had watched the video, and hated the scene.
She added: 'I hate the policeman who took the shot. I will not
forgive him for the rest of my life. He was cruel to do this to
me.
'I want to forget the whole episode. I am embarrassed by the video.
Please give me my life back.'
Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan said that
the man who took the video was 'no longer a policeman'.
He told The Star he had not yet been informed about the woman's
demands. 
