National laureate A Samad Said has called Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's administration 'cruel' for cracking down on last Saturday's Bersih 2.0 rally in Kuala Lumpur.

"If we see what happened (on that day), it's cruel, I have said on my Twitter and Facebook that we are heading towards a police state," he said.

The soft-spoken and usually low-profile septuagenarian was recalling his experience during the July 9 massive rally in which leaders and supporters of electoral reform were sprayed with tear gas and water cannons.

In an exclusive interview with Malaysiakini today, the distinguished 76-year old poet and novelist who is popularly known as Pak Samad said that despite the government's denial of police high-handedness during the four-hour long rally, the world was watching.

"They (the police) have said that there was no brutality inflicted on members of the public, but we can see (what happened) in YouTube, they cannot lie," said Samad.

Full story: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/169937

Camera/Editing: Tan Jiun Wuu & Shufiyan Shukur