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Date : 25/3/2011
Re: 204th Police Day today but Malay-sian police force retains criminal and racist police force tag.
Today marks the 204th Police Day. We opine that it otherwise only marks 54 years of a largely criminal and racist police force.
Just as late as the end of last month, i myself even as a lawyer of 20 years standing was arrested literally right outside my doorsteps for “attempting to commit an arrestable crime” that is for attempting to attend the 27th February 2011 Hindraf Makkal Sakthi peaceful assembly. On the same day 300 over Hindraf Makkal Sakthi Human Rights Defenders were unlawfully arrested and jailed (123 or 109 plus the 14 candle light vigillers that was acknowledged by the police)
All done with impunity and total disregard for Article 10 (1) (b) of the Federal Constitution which guarantees the right to assemble peacefully without arms.
Earlier on 13/12/2007 the police force colluded with the racist UMNO and caused my detention and that of the other Hindraf lawyers without trial for 514 days under the draconian Internal Security Act for merely championing the cause of the Indian poor. A civil suit seeking justice did not help either as even the High Courts take a pro UMNO police stand as is evidenced by the Kuala Lumpur High Court even as late as yesterday striking out my and M. Manoharan’s 514 days unlawful detention without trial ISA civil suit.
Almost everyday we get phone calls and complaints from especially the Indian poor of police abuses from gross unlawful arrests to being hurled with racist and abusive words like keling paria keling pun _ _ k etc to being manhandled, beaten up and even murdered in police custody. To the point that the Malay-sian police lock ups has even been described as “killing fields” a la Khemer Rouge.
Even in yesterday’s media reports the UMNO Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal of G. Francis Udayappan who was murdered at the Brickfields police lock up and then dumped into the Klang river. The said Malaysian Court of Appeal Judges Datuk Hasan Lah, Datuk Abdul Malik Ishak & Datuk Mokhtaruddin Baki held that it was not police murder or any crime at all.
But the Malay-sian Police Force from time to time do their kosong media propaganda that they have succeeded in reducing the crime rate to even surpassing that of Interpols’. Of course they may be right going by their “arm twisting” standards of arresting mere suspects, beating them up to a pulp and then forcing up to 99 of in particular the Indian poor “suspects” to plead guilty irrespective of their guilt, which they almost always do as they cannot even afford to raise the bail what more to pay lawyers (minus the Western civil society standards Legal Aid) and with no or very little family support.
Many IGP’s have come and gone with their five year plans but it is not working. (see NST 25/3/2011 at page 18). In the 54 years of independence the Malay-sian police force has shamefully come to be known by many Malaysians as “Polis Raja di Malaysia”.
In my twenty years as a Human Rights lawyer and Legal Adviser to the Police Watch and Human Rights Committee, the Malay-sian Police Force has obviously not got better . The change can only come when there is a change of the racist UMNO leadership at Putrajaya and perhaps the Army Chief being unprecedentedly appointed the new Inspector General of Police to overhaul the entire “Polis Raja Di Malaysia” culture and mindset from the roots.
In conclusion the Malay-sian police are far from “putting a human face to the forces. (see Starmetro 25/3/2011 at page M 4).
P. Uthayakumar
Secretary General (pro tem)
