MALAYSIA: LINCENCE TO KILL AND DOUBLE STANDARDS IN LAW ENFORCEMENT

In the past 20 years or so almost of all the citizens shot dead by the mono ethnic Police Force were ethnic Tamils. And in every case the Police have maintained that they either fired in self defence or that the victims refused to surrender and therefore had to be killed. Human rights lawyers however think that all these were carefully planned extra judicial killings. In one case a 19 yr old unarmed ethnic Tamil college student was brought down by the Police in a hail of bullets in Seremban, a town in the state of Negri Sembilan.

The incident which took place about four years ago was reported in the Govt controlled media as a case where the courageous police fired in self defence but lawyer Uthayakumar who is now wrongfully in detention under the obnoxious ISA laws was able to show reporters the bloodied T shirt the boy was wearing at the time of his murder. All the bullet marks were on the back of the shirt, which means the lad was running from the police not attacking them. You must not be surprised that the Police continually kick the Law on its rear end.

The present Inspector General of Police Musa Hassan admitted under cross examination by the defence in the infamous Anwar Ibrahim trial a few years ago that he would do what is illegal if ordered by his boss. And Raja Petra the fearless blogger who is contesting the Home Minister's order requiring his detention under the ISA has made allegations in his blog that Musa Hassan had symbiotic links with leaders of the underworld.

Recently a Malay woman working in a pub made a Police Report against Jamaluddin Jarjis a UMNO politician alleging that he had groped her at her place of work. Initial reports emerging about the incident said that he was 'tipsy' at that time.

Now, commonsense and a sound system of Laws would require that Jamaluddin be be hauled to the Police station and his statement recorded prior to him being investigated for the offence but here in Malaysia a special mollycoddling law applies to UMNO politicians...... The poor woman after having made the Police Report had second thoughts: she took out a Statutory Declaration contra ing the report. Never in legal history has this kind of thing happened.Mr Karpal Singh and other legal experts have said that there is no provision in the Law whereby a police report may be expunged by a SD. One cannot withdraw a police and if her report were false and malicious then she ought to charged in court but our Police and Public Prosecutors have not proceeded against Jamaluddin Jarjis or the unfortunate woman.

Some months ago Mr Karpal Singh made a police report against Zaki Azmi the Chief Justice wherein he accused Zaki of corruption but to date no statemebt was recorded from him and Zaki has not been investigated. But quicker than a flash of lightning the police have acted upon two reports made against him by UMNO in that he had committed treason against the Sultan of Perak. The venerable wheel chair bound Mr Karpal was asked to go to the Police Hqrs to sit through a 3 hr long interrogation.

Naturally Mr Karpal is annoyed at the double standards,Investors and tourists must understand that 2 kinds of Law operate in Malaysia. A harsh unbending system against the common citizen and a mollycoddling one which applies to UMNO leaders and their cronies.

Decent taxpaying citizens will become so frustrated with these double standards that eventually they may take the law into their own hands.