Is The Die Cast?

Though it is not yet possible to conclude what it is that occurred during the last hours of the life of Kugan Ananthan, those few facts with which the public has been acquainted with strongly suggest some measure of culpability on the part of those police offers involved in his interrogation. It is a fact that Kugan died in police custody during an interrogation in which he had been severely beaten. It is also a fact that the Public Prosecutor has classified the death as having been caused by murder for the purposes of investigations and the police officers concerned suspended.

It must however be emphasized that until and unless the police officers concerned are convicted, they are innocent of any crime. Their guilt should not be prejudged. We should also not rush to any conclusions on the racial dimensions of the incident as there is insufficient material available on which we can form any conclusion.

Having said that, questions must be asked. There is an urgent need for Malaysians to understand what it is that occurred and why it happened. We must also be made to understand why it is the police force responded as it did when news of the death surfaced. Questionable reactions on the part of the ranking police officer in charge have regrettably resulted in an uneasy belief that the truth is somehow being avoided.

The context of this latest tragedy cannot be overlooked. The prevalence of sudden deaths in police custody have been a source of concern for some time now. They were one of the main focus areas of the Dzaiddin Commission established in 2003 to look into the operation and management of the Royal Malaysia Police.

It is not insignificant that the Commission found there to have been a worrying level of abuses of power on the part of police officers coupled with a lack of due regard to the civil liberties in the discharge of their duties. It is equally compelling that the Commission implicitly concluded that the self-regulating the current Police Force Commission in effect allows for had allowed this very worrying state of affairs to have come into existence when it strongly recommended the urgent establishment of an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).

The stark reality is that sudden deaths such as Kugan’s are unnecessary and could in all probability be avoided if there are sufficient controls in place. The prevalence of abuses of power regrettably points to safeguards being inadequate despite the obvious need for them. It could as such be said that Kugan died at the hands of a system that, through studied indifference, has nurtured an environment in which police officers seemingly feel justified in taking the law into their own hands.

The consistent refusal on the part of the Government to establish the IPCMC despite the obvious need for the external, and life saving, control it would allow for is mystifying. As has been stressed for many years, the number of deaths associated with the police force is uncommonly high. Allowing this state of affairs to perpetuate is only going to foster the impression that extra-judicial killings of the kind more commonly associated with banana republics is a defining feature of this nation. Public confidence will not be shored by yet another high profile case in which police officers are accused of murder.

It is sad to note that the Government’s reluctance seems to be prompted more by a desire to appease the police force rather than a rejection of the merits of the IPCMC recommendation. This appears to be motivated by a need on the part of the Barisan Nasional, and in particular UMNO, to enlist the police force to further its political causes, a process which suits the convenience of the police force as long as it serves its interests. This quid pro quo is to an extent reflected in the Government’s willingness to implement measures recommended by the Dzaiddin Commission, including legislative amendments aimed at protecting due process rights of arrested persons, that have not put it on a collision course with those who control the police force.

In this, it is impossible to ignore the fact that the only real opposition to the IPCMC has come from the police force itself. That this opposition is manifestly self-serving, and such of little credibility, is demonstrated by the conclusions of the Dzaiddin Commission that abuses of power were systemic and took place under a shroud of pervasive corruption that engendered a lack of transparency and accountability. It is for primarily this reason that the IPCMC was recommended.

This is not to say that the Government or the police force condones extra-judicial killing or torture. I do not believe that either institution does. The high incidence of such deaths however gives rise to the question of whether such deaths are perceived as sometimes being necessary incidents of the kind of tough policing efforts that the country is said to require.

Viewed from the perspective defined above, the issue at the heart of the Kugan tragedy is really one of control and regulation. There is absolutely no justification for the abuse or killings of any person by the police. If there are those who think that such conduct is justifiable, then they must be shown otherwise and terminated from service.

That the Government and the police forces itself are respectively incapable of curbing abuses of power, and the incidents of such abuses including sudden deaths in custody, is now beyond doubt. It if were so this latest controversy would not have erupted and we would have seen more decisive action taken over the past five years. External control is as such clearly essential to efforts aimed at reforming the police force. The Government is however opposed to external control for reasons that appear to be primarily shaped by its political perspective, It would not be unreasonable to conclude to that end that the Government views itself as not being in any position to reign in the police.

If so, as shocking as it may be, it would seem that the die is cast and until a new Government is formed Malaysians should accept sudden deaths and other forms of abuses as a part of the Malaysian way of life.

I may have overstated the concern. There is after all one question that remains to be answered by the Government, the one that everything really boils down to all things said and done: Has the Government accepted the risk of such abuses reoccurring as the necessary consequence of a political balance it wishes to maintain? The only way it can show that it has not is to establish the IPCMC; it has every justification to do so now.

(Malaysian Insider; 2nd Feb 2009)

MIS

The Fact Is, Mr Chor

(Mr Chor Chee Heung is the Deputy Minister for Home Affairs. Unsurprisingly, he gave the usual political answers when confronted in Parliament over the Bandar Mahkota Cheras incident in which according to media reports Chang Jiun Haur was assaulted and battered by FRU officers)


For goodness sake, Mr Chor, why does every answer have to be a political one.

The fact is a young man lies in the intensive care unit of a hospital. He was put there by some twenty police officers who beat him up. They say that he was trying to run them over but not a single police officer appears to have been injured. There is also a great deal of doubt as to whether the young man was trying to run over police officers, or anyone for that matter, or was simply trying to leave the scene, perhaps realizing his mistake for having stopped in the first place.

And the fact is that no amount of provocation short of a direct threat on life warranted a reprisal of this form by the police officers.

Perhaps, Mr Chor, you would care to remind yourself, and the Minister, that you are not the Inspector General of Police and as such, you are not directly responsible for the misconduct of police officers. Perhaps you would even care to remind yourself, and the Minister, that your ministry is responsible for determining fairly what it is that happened and to take steps to ensure that it does not happen again.

The fact is, Mr Chor, the Royal Malaysia Police is regrettably virtually synonymous with police brutality. I do not say this of my own accord, I am merely reiterating what it is a Royal Commission of Enquiry had come to conclude. You may recall that the Royal Commission had strongly recommended the establishment of an independent complaints and misconduct commission to address the kind of conduct that was making Malaysians lose faith in the police force. You may recall the proposed independent commission by its acronym, IPCMC, just as you may recall that your government has failed to establish the IPCMC despite promises that the recommendations of the Royal Commission would be given effect.

Incidentally, Mr Chor, you may also wish to remind yourself that one of the reasons that the Commission of Enquiry felt the need for the IPCMC was a seeming unwillingness on the part of the police force to investigate its own conduct. Were it otherwise, why would the Royal Commission have proposed a draft law for the IPCMC which declared, in its preamble:

“An Act to establish the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission whose principle functions are to receive and investigate into complaints about the Royal Malaysia Police, to detect, investigate and prevent police corruption and other serious police misconduct, to set out the powers and functions of such Commission for improving police integrity, reducing misconduct and building public confidence and to ensure that there is vigilant oversight in Malaysia of the Royal Malaysia Police…”

It may also be useful to take note that the Royal Commission concluded in paragraph 2.6.8 of its report (page 53) that there was abuse of power on the part of some police personnel and that if those guilty of abusing their power were not punished, this problem would persist. There appears to have been no action taken, and if there was it was not publicized, in connection with the shootings at Pantai Batu Burok late last year, Bloody Sunday and the other very public instances of apparent police misconduct.

This puts paid to the suggestion on your part, Mr Chor, that the police force is capable of investigating the events at Bandar Mahkota Cheras fairly and professionally.

The fact is, Mr Chor, your Ministry is failing the rakyat grievously for failing to take meaningful steps to address this situation. Its continued inaction has resulted in Chang Jiun Haur being in hospital, the tears of his parents and family streaming into the river of tears of other parents, other families who have similarly suffered.

There are questions that need to be answered and action that has to be taken. We are primed however for no further action. In fact, Mr Chor, if the events of Pantai Batu Burok or the HINDRAF Batu Caves incident are anything to go by, we can reasonably expect Chang Jiun Haur to be charged in a court of law soon. Nothing surprises us anymore, your administration is capable of almost anything it would seem.

But then, Mr Chor, I suppose politics would make that an acceptable end for you. And you and your colleagues wonder why so many Malaysians are so sick of the Barisan Nasional?

MIS

Whatever Happened To Francis Udayappan?

Enough excuses. The Prime Minister has admitted to not having done enough to put in place the reforms he had promised. Admitting the failure is one thing, doing something about it is another.

April 16th is the anniversary of the astounding disapperance and death of Francis Udayappan. On this day in 2004, he had supposedly fled from police custody. It took a month to locate the body when it was fished out of the Klang river without its head, the identity of the body being confirmed by an inquest about two years later. This inquest returned an open verdict - insufficient evidence to establish cause of death - but ruled out foul play, something Francis' family has insisted took place. A High Court challenge was filed but to date remains unheard.

If the Prime Minister is serious about wanting to make Malaysians believe that his government cares, then an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) must be established as a priority. The IPCMC must be the kind of independent and empowered body the 'Royal Commission to Enhance the Operation and Management of the Royal Malaysia Police' recommended to the Prime Minister in 2005. This was after the Commission had heard testimony on amongst other things police brutality and corruption.

Malaysians have heard excuses and distractions but have seen precious little movement. Such inaction only goes to show the continuing disrespect for the memory of Francis Udayappan and all that he represents.

As G Sara Lily commemorates the loss of her son today, her anguish inconsolable and deepening, we cannot lose sight of that fact. Her tears are a reminder of the kind of wrongs and injustices this Government has allowed to occur and continues to through its inaction.

They are a reminder of why we must be vigilant and continue to lead the nation by our hearts and minds. On March 8th, we reclaimed the nation to ourselves. This nation belongs to us, not to the Barisan, not to the Pakatan. We must continue to show those who do not care, who would allow the inflicting of harm on any one of us that that they have no place amongst those who lead us.

A prayer for Francis, a prayer for all who have suffered at the hands of unjust aggressors and continue to do so.

MIS

The Malaysiakini report 'Francis Udayappan remembered' can be read here.