The Home Minister's statement on 17 Feb 2011 refusing to set up the IPCMC and proposing to rely on 'political will' to keep the police in check, is one of the most irresponsible ever issued by a Cabinet Minister in this country. Minister Hishamuddin Hussein and his police force appear to have learnt nothing from cases like A.Kugan, Aminulrasyid Amzah ,Norizan Salleh or Chia Buang Hing.
Recent statistics released by Lawyers for Liberty revealed a shocking 17 fold increase in police shootings, whereas 160 persons have died in police custody since 2000. It is ironic that Minister Hishamuddin Hussein made this statement on the very day final submissions were made in the case of the police corporal charged in the Aminulrasyid killing.
Aminulrasyid died because the Home Minister failed and/or refused to rein in the police.
The Home Minister and IGP appear indifferent to the long suffering of the people at the hands of a police force which increasingly disregards the due process of law. It is clear that the Government is protecting the police in return for the cooperation of the police in suppressing legitimate political dissent in Malaysia. This method of preserving political power is widely used by repressive regimes throughout the world and has been practiced by both the Malaysian and Singaporean governments since achieving independence. Among it's key features is the criminalization of dissidents and opponents by politically motivated prosecutions and the heavy-handed use of police powers to break up peaceful assemblies. A prime example of the former would be the fabricated sodomy charges brought against the Leader of the Opposition and now ongoing at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
Despite the increasing lawlessness of the police, Home Minister Hishamuddin has failed to take steps to reform the police and to set up the IPCMC. This Minister has clearly failed to act in the best interest of the Malaysian public. Therefore,we call upon Minister Hishamuddin to accept responsibilty for this failure and to resign
immediately as Home Minister. We also call upon the Government to immediately form the IPCMC, and implement all other recommendations of the Dzaiddin Royal Commission.
The Home Minister and IGP appear indifferent to the long suffering of the people at the hands of a police force which increasingly disregards the due process of law. It is clear that the Government is protecting the police in return for the cooperation of the police in suppressing legitimate political dissent in Malaysia. This method of preserving political power is widely used by repressive regimes throughout the world and has been practiced by both the Malaysian and Singaporean governments since achieving independence. Among it's key features is the criminalization of dissidents and opponents by politically motivated prosecutions and the heavy-handed use of police powers to break up peaceful assemblies. A prime example of the former would be the fabricated sodomy charges brought against the Leader of the Opposition and now ongoing at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
Despite the increasing lawlessness of the police, Home Minister Hishamuddin has failed to take steps to reform the police and to set up the IPCMC. This Minister has clearly failed to act in the best interest of the Malaysian public. Therefore,we call upon Minister Hishamuddin to accept responsibilty for this failure and to resign
immediately as Home Minister. We also call upon the Government to immediately form the IPCMC, and implement all other recommendations of the Dzaiddin Royal Commission.
N Surendran is the vice president of Parti Keadilan Rakyat
Are our professionals simply incompetent or are they part of a cover-up operation?
During the trial into the death of 15 year-old Aminulrasyid Amzah, shot dead by policemen, the crime scene investigation officer Inspector Mazli Jusuh said that Aminulrasyid’s body had been moved before he arrived. Men from the Mobile Police Vehicle patrol unit moved the body, before the paramedics could examine the body.
Teoh Beng Hock died in suspicious circumstances at the hands of the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission. Selangor police chief Deputy Commissioner Khalid Abu Bakar said that initial findings in the pathologist’s report on political secretary Teoh showed that he died of multiple injuries due to a fall from a height.
The government pathologist who conducted the second post-mortem on Teoh disputed renowned Thai forensic pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand’s opinion that the political aide had probably been brutalised before his death.
Sungai Buloh Hospital Pathology Unit head Dr Shahidan Md Noor said Teoh’s injuries were consistent with a fall from height and dismissed manual strangulation.
Dr Pornthip had testified that Teoh’s death was 80 % homicide and several injuries found on him, seemed to be inconsistent with a fall from height and appeared to be pre-fall injuries. There were marks on Teoh’s neck which looked like he had been manually strangled and the injury to his anal region was a penetrative injury. Abrasions on Teoh's right upper thigh looked like he had been beaten with a piece of wood.
British forensic pathologist Dr Peter Vanezis, appointed by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to assist in the inquest, also said that Teoh was not murdered or thrown out of a high building because the injuries he sustained were consistent with a fall from a height, such as from the 14th floor to the fifth floor landing.
The Ministry’s post-mortem report was significantly different from the one obtained when Kugan’s family did a second autopsy at the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre.
The UMMC report had made no mention of myocarditis but stated that Kugan had died of kidney failure, caused by “rhabdomyolysis” or muscle breakdown, consistent with the blunt injuries seen on Kugan’s body.
The Ministry of Health Director-General, Dr Ismail Merican defended the pathologist Dr. Abdul Karim because he “had 26 years of medical practice, compared to the UMMC Pathologist’s 11 years’ experience”.
In 1998, a 40 year-old Jahai Orang Asli from Kelantan, called Tualang Puteh, was reported missing after he did not return from collecting petai beans in the jungle. His decomposed body was found eight days later. The search party which included the Jeli Police chief, Jahai villagers and Wildlife Department rangers, identified bite marks on the body and pug marks of a tiger near the body.
The pathologist who conducted the post-mortem said that Tualang had not been killed by a tiger. He said that Tualang died an unnatural death and had suffered a brain injury caused by a blunt injury hitting his head. He found no bite marks.
According to Dr Colin Nicholas of the ‘Center for Orang Asli Concerns’ an NGO which looks after Orang Asli interests, the search party believed that Tualang had fallen from the tree while trying to escape a tiger, before being mauled to death. There were scratch marks, similar to those of a tiger, on the tree trunk.
Tualang’s death was classified as a crime because of the conclusion of the pathologists’ report. If Tualang had been the victim of a tiger attack, his widow would have been able to claim welfare aid.
Several people in the area were attacked by tigers in the following years.
The pathologist, from the Kuala Terengganu Hospital who conducted the autopsy on Tualang in 1998 was one Dr Abdul Karim Tajuddin; the same one who performed the autopsy on Kugan.
During the trial into the death of 15 year-old Aminulrasyid Amzah, shot dead by policemen, the crime scene investigation officer Inspector Mazli Jusuh said that Aminulrasyid’s body had been moved before he arrived. Men from the Mobile Police Vehicle patrol unit moved the body, before the paramedics could examine the body.
Teoh Beng Hock died in suspicious circumstances at the hands of the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission. Selangor police chief Deputy Commissioner Khalid Abu Bakar said that initial findings in the pathologist’s report on political secretary Teoh showed that he died of multiple injuries due to a fall from a height.
The government pathologist who conducted the second post-mortem on Teoh disputed renowned Thai forensic pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand’s opinion that the political aide had probably been brutalised before his death.
Sungai Buloh Hospital Pathology Unit head Dr Shahidan Md Noor said Teoh’s injuries were consistent with a fall from height and dismissed manual strangulation.
Dr Pornthip had testified that Teoh’s death was 80 % homicide and several injuries found on him, seemed to be inconsistent with a fall from height and appeared to be pre-fall injuries. There were marks on Teoh’s neck which looked like he had been manually strangled and the injury to his anal region was a penetrative injury. Abrasions on Teoh's right upper thigh looked like he had been beaten with a piece of wood.
British forensic pathologist Dr Peter Vanezis, appointed by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commissionto assist in the inquest, also said that Teoh was not murdered or thrown out of a high building because the injuries he sustained were consistent with a fall from a height, such as from the 14th floor to the fifth floor landing.
A. Kugan died when in police custody. His post mortem was done by Ministry of Health Pathologist, Dr Abdul Karim Tajuddin. He found that Kugan had died of “myocarditis”, an inflammation of the heart muscle, and not from police brutality.
The Ministry’s post-mortem report was significantly different from the one obtained when Kugan’s family did a second autopsy at the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre.
The UMMC report had made no mention of myocarditis but stated that Kugan had died of kidney failure, caused by “rhabdomyolysis” or muscle breakdown, consistent with the blunt injuries seen on Kugan’s body.
The Ministry of Health Director-General, Dr Ismail Merican defended the pathologist Dr. Abdul Karim because he “had 26 years of medical practice, compared to the UMMC Pathologist’s 11 years’ experience”.
In 1998, a 40 year-old Jahai Orang Asli from Kelantan, called Tualang Puteh, was reported missing after he did not return from collecting petai beans in the jungle. His decomposed body was found eight days later. The search party which included the Jeli Police chief, Jahai villagers and Wildlife Department rangers, identified bite marks on the body and pug marks of a tiger near the body.
The pathologist who conducted the post-mortem said that Tualang had not been killed by a tiger. He said that Tualang died an unnatural death and had suffered a brain injury caused by a blunt injury hitting his head. He found no bite marks.
According to Dr Colin Nicholas of the ‘Center for Orang Asli Concerns’ an NGO which looks after Orang Asli interests, the search party believed that Tualang had fallen from the tree while trying to escape a tiger, before being mauled to death. There were scratch marks, similar to those of a tiger, on the tree trunk.
Tualang’s death was classified as a crime because of the conclusion of the pathologists’ report. If Tualang had been the victim of a tiger attack, his widow would have been able to claim welfare aid.
Several people in the area were attacked by tigers in the following years.
The pathologist, from the Kuala Terengganu Hospital who conducted the autopsy on Tualang in 1998 was one Dr Abdul Karim Tajuddin; the same one who performed the autopsy on Kugan.
The verdict is in on whether the NYPD is influenced by quotas when arresting suspects.
A jury of six men deciding a civil case brought by Carolyn Bryant, determined that police do indeed have a policy "regarding the number of arrests officers were to make that violated plaintiff's constitutional rights and contributed to her arrest."
From the New York Daily News:
Jurors came back with an invalid verdict, deciding there was no false arrest. But they still awarded punitive damages, prompting Bryant to accept a $75,000 out-of-court settlement.
Seth Harris, Bryant's lawyer, said the jury's decision could affect future litigation because, "other lawyers can now argue convincingly that the issue of quotas has been decided."
The city's lawyer, Zev Singer, refuted the claim that New York police utilize quotas.
"We are gratified that the jury found this was a lawful arrest," Singer said. "However, the New York City Police Department does not use quotas."
Bryant claimed she was injured when she confronted police who were arresting her son for drugs.
"I'm very happy justice was served," Bryant said.
Last year, secret recordings reveled that officers in Brooklyn's 81st precinct were being influenced by a quota system. In September This American Life profiled Adrian Schoolcraft, the officer who exposed the practice of false reporting and downgrading serious arrests to keep crime stats low.
No comments:
Post a Comment