SINGAPORE — Two police officers who took the stand yesterday rejected suggestions that they and their fellow officers displayed cowardice and fled from the epicentre of the Little India riot.

That some of the officers got into an ambulance was a tactical retreat to regroup and plan for their next course of action, one of them said. Nevertheless, the other officer conceded that he ran away, after he was pressed by Committee of Inquiry (COI) Chairman G Pannir Selvam.

During the hearing, State Counsel Joshua Lim pointed out to Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Edwin Yong Wen Wei that there were allegations that the police “were cowardly or displayed signs of cowardice getting into the ambulance”. “Were you cowardly getting into the ambulance?” Mr Lim asked.

ASP Yong said he did not think that it was an act of cowardice. He explained that there were injured officers in the ambulance and the others were initially outside, trying to protect the vehicle. “There was a need as a team leader to bring my officers to a safer environment, which is inside the ambulance,” he said.

The police officers with him also passed their riot shields to nearby Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) personnel who were in a fire truck that had its windows shattered. The SCDF personnel in turn lent the police officers their helmets, ASP Yong said.

“So I don’t think it was cowardice. It was a plan to bring the officers to safety and it was a place to plan and regroup,” he added. Mr Selvam suggested it was a tactical retreat and ASP Yong agreed.

Before ASP Yong took the stand, Mr Selvam had pressed Special Constable Sergeant (Sc/Sgt) Abdul Aziz Abdul Khalid on whether he ran away from the scene. Mr Selvam said: “... a lot of people are saying — and one gets the impression when you look at the video footage on YouTube — that the police were frightened and ran away from the scene. Did you run away from the scene?”

Sc/Sgt Abdul Aziz replied: “I wouldn’t actually call it running away because we went away for a while to regroup and to think of a plan of how we can solve this issue.” He added: “So we went away for a while, we regrouped and then we came back.”

Under further questioning, Sc/Sgt Abdul Aziz said at first that he “walked away very quickly” before he eventually agreed with Mr Selvam that he did run away.

Mr Selvam then asked him if the officers around him also ran away. To which Sc/Sgt Abdul Aziz replied: “I wasn’t too sure about the other officers.”