Lawmakers on both sides of the political divide demanded that newly-installed IGP Ismail Omar end the indiscriminate fatal police shootings. DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang declared: “It would appear that with the change of IGP, there is no change in the police culture as such.”
By Martin Jalleh
There was deep concern and consternation throughout 2010 over what the public viewed as the growing “shoot-to-kill” culture by the police force or what R. Sivarasa, the MP for Subang, called “a culture of impunity”.
“It means that they feel that they can do as they wish and they won’t be held accountable… they can shoot, kill, and there won’t be any questions asked (or)… any investigations and that they can continue doing so,” he said.
The nationwide concern over the trigger-happy cops of PDRM culminated into public outraged in April with the police “killing” of 14-year old Form III student Aminulrasyid Hamzah about 100 metres from his Shah Alam house.
The callous responses and cavalier attitude of the IGP, Home Minister and the police as they tried to contain the public firestorm caused the public to lose confidence in them and repeatedly call for the IGP to resign.
Respected lawyer Art Harun captured the sentiments of the people so clearly: “Right-minded people of Malaysia regard the killing of Aminulrasyid as symptomatic of lawless totalitarianism.”
“But that which makes this case all the more nauseating is not so much that this totally unnecessary killing of a 14-year-old boy had happened, but rather the responses by various parties — those people upon whom our security is entrusted — during the aftermath.
“The responses have been anything but humane, sensitive or even caring. They are arrogant, defensive and downright rude. Where is the love? Where is the humility? Doesn’t it occur to these people that they occupy seats of trust?”
Further, the police have become very predictable with their pat responses: “The dead were criminals. They behaved in a suspicious manner. They tried to evade/resist arrest. They drove away dangerously. Weapons were later found. Police acted by the rules. The law allows them to defend themselves” (Free Malaysia Today)
Cold Blooded
Seven months after Aminulrasyid was gunned down, three youths between the ages of 15 and 22 were shot dead after a reported high-speed car chase in Shah Alam. They were suspected of robbing a petrol station. Two of the families of the trio claimed that they were killed by the police in cold blood.
Lawmakers on both sides of the political divide demanded that newly-installed IGP Ismail Omar end the indiscriminate fatal police shootings. DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang declared: “It would appear that with the change of IGP, there is no change in the police culture as such.”
Before the year ended, human rights and legal reform advocates “Lawyers for Liberty” highlighted the seriousness of the situation. The number of fatal shootings by the police rose 17-fold since 2001 – from five in 2001 to a shocking total of 82 in 2008 and 88 in 2009.
Judging from Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein’s curt, cold and caustic response, it is very clear that such “extrajudicial killings” will continue on in Bolehland! He said there was no surge in the number of fatal shootings. The matter was just being “sensationalized” in parliament. There could be a “slight increase” after all.
Hishammuddin’s continued his hogwash: “Let the police respond on the data …If not, I would be asked this question every day when there are other serious matters to respond to”. The data provided was from the police themselves! And what is more “serious” than the safety and security of innocent lives of Malaysians?
There were also those who were shot by the police but who managed to survive, the latest being Ho Chei Hang who was shot four times by plainclothes police officers in Kepong in November. The story of Norizan Salleh who was mistakenly shot five times by police officers last year continued to receive public attention in 2010.
It is evident that the only effective way to keep the police in check and the only convincing government action is the formation of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC). Sadly, the federal government has proven to be a big hindrance to such a necessary move, and for obvious reasons
Showing posts with label Crime. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crime. Show all posts
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Sivarasa Speaks for Justice
'Did my son beg for mercy before being shot?'Aidila Razak
Nov 29, 10
12:26pmShare 11There is nothing that she wants more than to see the person who killed her child be hauled up to court to face justice.
But for now, Norhafizah Mad Razali (left in pix) just cannot help thinking of her son's last moments before he was shot dead by police.
"I keep thinking what he was thinking, how he felt before the fatal shot. Did he plead for mercy? Was he crying in pain?" she said in tears, while her husband, Shapiei Zainal Abidin who in spite of his own wet eyes tried to offer comfort.
Their son, Mohd Shamil Hafiz Shapiei, was shot dead about 4am on Nov 13 on a street in Glenmarie in Shah Alam, Selangor. He was about a week away from turning 16.
He was shot once in the chest and in the middle of his forehead, an image which will not leave his parents' minds.
"Call it a mother's instinct...I don't know how or why, but the words just slipped out of my mouth when I saw his body: 'He has been murdered'," she said when met at the low-cost flat where they live in Kota Damansara.
The police have claimed they fired in self-defence, as Mohd Shamil and two others - Mohd Hanafi Omar (right), 22 and Hairul Nizam Tuah, 20, said to be from Cheras - had allegedly charged at police with machetes after attempting to rob a petrol station.
All three sustained similar gunshots to the chest and head, with Hairul Nizam also shot at the side of his head while Mohd Hanafi was shot at the top of his head.
All the bullets passed through the bodies, with exit wounds on Hairul Nizam's body at a lower part of his head and torso compared to the entry wound.
Headlines immediately after the incident screamed 'Teen Terrorist', with reports quoting the police as saying that Mohd Shamil was a seasoned criminal and a ringleader of Geng Minyak- a gang that had been targeting petrol stations across the Klang Valley.
If the manner in which the youths were shot dead was not enough to raise their suspicion, it was the police statements which have steeled the families' resolve to get more answers.
Hairul Nizam's sister Norliza Tuah took her concerns to their parliamentarian R Sivarasa (left) of PKR.
"I kept thinking of the way he was shot. The trajectory of the bullet (evident from the wounds) makes it seem like he was shot from a higher point. Did the police climb a tree to shoot him?
"My brother was afraid of the police and refused to drive if he didn't have his driver's licence on him because he was afraid of getting caught. How could he have charged at police with a machete?
“And where is this machete? I want to see it. We have not been shown anything that was found on (the deceased) and the police kept asking us what colour his helmet is, but he left his helmet at the cyber cafe."
Fourth person involved?
The helmet and the keys to the Hairul Nizam's motorcycle had been passed to Norliza on the morning of Nov 13 by his friends who had waited for him to return to the nearby cyber cafe where they were.
The friends told her that Hairul Nizam and Mohd Hanafi were there at 3.30am that day when someone in a Proton Waja - she does not know who - stopped by the cyber cafe and invited them out for supper.
"(Hairul Nizam) asked his friends to wait for him and said he would be back in a short while. They waited until morning but he never came back," she said.
The last time Norhafizah saw her son was at around 2.30am, when he came to the tomyam stall which she operates next to the flats.
"He always hung around with other youths who live here and played checkers. His father saw him at around 3am," she said.
Although only 15, Mohd Hafiz had much time on his hands as he was no longer attending school, having dropped out of Tahfiz (religious) school last year.
Norhafizah said he was not academically inclined and that he had asked her to search for a place for him to take up vocational training.
The teen's absence was noticed early in the morning as he has not returned home - something he had never done before.
"His sister was receiving an award for academic excellence (on Nov 13) and he told me he wanted to go to the ceremony. I called him several times but his phone was turned off," she said.
No drugs or alcohol found
Answers, albeit vague, were found in the morgue of Tuanku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital, where forensic pathologist Khairul Azman Ibrahim informed them of their worst nightmare.
"We asked the police officer who was there to tell us more but he only said that he was not at the scene of the incident. No one could answer us properly," said Norliza.
But what they did find out was that none of the youths were under the influence of drugs or alcohol when they died, leaving question marks over why they would charge at armed officers with machetes.
Just like slain teen Aminulrasyid Amzah's (right)family, who had in vain sought an apology from the police for labelling the 14-year-old a criminal, these families too cannot fathom that the youths were involved in criminal activity.
Also on their minds is the identity of the mysterious fourth person in the Proton Waja, in which police said the youths had sped off.
“That is for the police to find out, I don't want to speculate. I just want justice for my son, for my children,” Norhaliza said.
Her second son has been taunted by his peers who have been telling him that his brother was a criminal, while her four-year-old is now asking his parents to buy him a gun.
“The little one keeps asking us where his brother is, and when we don't answer he says, 'He is dead, shot by police...police are bad',” she said.
More than clearing the name of their loved one, Hairul Nizam's family also wants this to be the case that changes the way police conduct operations.
“Someone has been charged in the Aminulrasyid case…(but) there is still something wrong with the system in which the police operate.If this could happen to our family, it could happen to another family too.
“Maybe the real Geng Minyak is still out there and my brother was the scapegoat,” Norliza (left in pix) said.
The family has since filed a police report about their suspicion over the shooting.
An emergency motion on the issue, which Sivarasa attempted to raise in Parliament on Thursday, wasrejected.
Mohd Hanafi's family filed a similar police report today.
Senior Shah Alam police officers could not be contacted for a response.
Nov 29, 10
12:26pmShare 11There is nothing that she wants more than to see the person who killed her child be hauled up to court to face justice.
But for now, Norhafizah Mad Razali (left in pix) just cannot help thinking of her son's last moments before he was shot dead by police.
"I keep thinking what he was thinking, how he felt before the fatal shot. Did he plead for mercy? Was he crying in pain?" she said in tears, while her husband, Shapiei Zainal Abidin who in spite of his own wet eyes tried to offer comfort.
Their son, Mohd Shamil Hafiz Shapiei, was shot dead about 4am on Nov 13 on a street in Glenmarie in Shah Alam, Selangor. He was about a week away from turning 16.
He was shot once in the chest and in the middle of his forehead, an image which will not leave his parents' minds.
"Call it a mother's instinct...I don't know how or why, but the words just slipped out of my mouth when I saw his body: 'He has been murdered'," she said when met at the low-cost flat where they live in Kota Damansara.
The police have claimed they fired in self-defence, as Mohd Shamil and two others - Mohd Hanafi Omar (right), 22 and Hairul Nizam Tuah, 20, said to be from Cheras - had allegedly charged at police with machetes after attempting to rob a petrol station.
All three sustained similar gunshots to the chest and head, with Hairul Nizam also shot at the side of his head while Mohd Hanafi was shot at the top of his head.
All the bullets passed through the bodies, with exit wounds on Hairul Nizam's body at a lower part of his head and torso compared to the entry wound.
Headlines immediately after the incident screamed 'Teen Terrorist', with reports quoting the police as saying that Mohd Shamil was a seasoned criminal and a ringleader of Geng Minyak- a gang that had been targeting petrol stations across the Klang Valley.
If the manner in which the youths were shot dead was not enough to raise their suspicion, it was the police statements which have steeled the families' resolve to get more answers.
Hairul Nizam's sister Norliza Tuah took her concerns to their parliamentarian R Sivarasa (left) of PKR.
"I kept thinking of the way he was shot. The trajectory of the bullet (evident from the wounds) makes it seem like he was shot from a higher point. Did the police climb a tree to shoot him?
"My brother was afraid of the police and refused to drive if he didn't have his driver's licence on him because he was afraid of getting caught. How could he have charged at police with a machete?
“And where is this machete? I want to see it. We have not been shown anything that was found on (the deceased) and the police kept asking us what colour his helmet is, but he left his helmet at the cyber cafe."
Fourth person involved?
The helmet and the keys to the Hairul Nizam's motorcycle had been passed to Norliza on the morning of Nov 13 by his friends who had waited for him to return to the nearby cyber cafe where they were.
The friends told her that Hairul Nizam and Mohd Hanafi were there at 3.30am that day when someone in a Proton Waja - she does not know who - stopped by the cyber cafe and invited them out for supper.
"(Hairul Nizam) asked his friends to wait for him and said he would be back in a short while. They waited until morning but he never came back," she said.
The last time Norhafizah saw her son was at around 2.30am, when he came to the tomyam stall which she operates next to the flats.
"He always hung around with other youths who live here and played checkers. His father saw him at around 3am," she said.
Although only 15, Mohd Hafiz had much time on his hands as he was no longer attending school, having dropped out of Tahfiz (religious) school last year.
Norhafizah said he was not academically inclined and that he had asked her to search for a place for him to take up vocational training.
The teen's absence was noticed early in the morning as he has not returned home - something he had never done before.
"His sister was receiving an award for academic excellence (on Nov 13) and he told me he wanted to go to the ceremony. I called him several times but his phone was turned off," she said.
No drugs or alcohol found
Answers, albeit vague, were found in the morgue of Tuanku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital, where forensic pathologist Khairul Azman Ibrahim informed them of their worst nightmare.
"We asked the police officer who was there to tell us more but he only said that he was not at the scene of the incident. No one could answer us properly," said Norliza.
But what they did find out was that none of the youths were under the influence of drugs or alcohol when they died, leaving question marks over why they would charge at armed officers with machetes.
Just like slain teen Aminulrasyid Amzah's (right)family, who had in vain sought an apology from the police for labelling the 14-year-old a criminal, these families too cannot fathom that the youths were involved in criminal activity.
Also on their minds is the identity of the mysterious fourth person in the Proton Waja, in which police said the youths had sped off.
“That is for the police to find out, I don't want to speculate. I just want justice for my son, for my children,” Norhaliza said.
Her second son has been taunted by his peers who have been telling him that his brother was a criminal, while her four-year-old is now asking his parents to buy him a gun.
“The little one keeps asking us where his brother is, and when we don't answer he says, 'He is dead, shot by police...police are bad',” she said.
More than clearing the name of their loved one, Hairul Nizam's family also wants this to be the case that changes the way police conduct operations.
“Someone has been charged in the Aminulrasyid case…(but) there is still something wrong with the system in which the police operate.If this could happen to our family, it could happen to another family too.
“Maybe the real Geng Minyak is still out there and my brother was the scapegoat,” Norliza (left in pix) said.
The family has since filed a police report about their suspicion over the shooting.
An emergency motion on the issue, which Sivarasa attempted to raise in Parliament on Thursday, wasrejected.
Mohd Hanafi's family filed a similar police report today.
Senior Shah Alam police officers could not be contacted for a response.
Friday, January 16, 2009
BU crime walk
By Tan Karr Wei, The Star, May 27, 2008
THE Selangor Government is looking into ways to reduce unemployment in the state.
Bukit Lanjan assemblyman Elizabeth Wong said besides insufficient police personnel, unemployment was one of the reasons for the high crime rate in many areas in the state.
The other reasons include migration of people from rural to urban areas and the failure of town planning committees to include police stations and beat bases in new residential areas.
“A lot of graduates are unemployed. We are trying to get more investors into the state to provide more jobs. We also want more people to go into agriculture, especially locals, make transparent the licensing process for traders and hawkers and make welfare more accessible to those in need,” said Wong, who is also Selangor tourism, consumer affairs and environment executive councillor.
Together with Subang MP Sivarasa Rasiah, Wong joined about 150 residents of Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya, in a walk around the neighbourhood to raise awareness of crime prevention.
Sivarasa said Malaysia had a ratio of about one policeman to 260 citizens while the international recommended ratio is 1:250.
“The problem lies in how they are deployed. Out of the 100,000 police personnel, one-third are doing administrative work while another one-third are in the public order and safety department. In short, we have a police force that is not deployed efficiently,” he said.
Sivarasa added that residents now had to organise safety measures like setting up guardhouses and boom gates at their own expense, which was not the long-term answer to the problem.
“This walk organised by the Bandar Utama Residents Association (BURA) is a strong signal to the authorities that as taxpaying residents, they want better security,” he said
THE Selangor Government is looking into ways to reduce unemployment in the state.
Bukit Lanjan assemblyman Elizabeth Wong said besides insufficient police personnel, unemployment was one of the reasons for the high crime rate in many areas in the state.
The other reasons include migration of people from rural to urban areas and the failure of town planning committees to include police stations and beat bases in new residential areas.
“A lot of graduates are unemployed. We are trying to get more investors into the state to provide more jobs. We also want more people to go into agriculture, especially locals, make transparent the licensing process for traders and hawkers and make welfare more accessible to those in need,” said Wong, who is also Selangor tourism, consumer affairs and environment executive councillor.
Together with Subang MP Sivarasa Rasiah, Wong joined about 150 residents of Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya, in a walk around the neighbourhood to raise awareness of crime prevention.
Sivarasa said Malaysia had a ratio of about one policeman to 260 citizens while the international recommended ratio is 1:250.
“The problem lies in how they are deployed. Out of the 100,000 police personnel, one-third are doing administrative work while another one-third are in the public order and safety department. In short, we have a police force that is not deployed efficiently,” he said.
Sivarasa added that residents now had to organise safety measures like setting up guardhouses and boom gates at their own expense, which was not the long-term answer to the problem.
“This walk organised by the Bandar Utama Residents Association (BURA) is a strong signal to the authorities that as taxpaying residents, they want better security,” he said
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
