Comments on: Detained women get caucus backing http://teresakok.blogsome.com/2005/11/18/detained-women-get-caucus-backing/ It's about me, my faith, my constituency and my country Sun, 06 Dec 2009 13:20:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5.1-alpha by: kalliorocks http://teresakok.blogsome.com/2005/11/18/detained-women-get-caucus-backing/#comment-31 Mon, 21 Nov 2005 02:07:02 +0000 http://teresakok.blogsome.com/2005/11/18/detained-women-get-caucus-backing/#comment-31 i\'ve been thinking about returning to m\'sia with my non-m\'sian girlfriend but one of the big issues that is holding me back is the weak rule of law and justice in the country, especially it seems in the KL area, and the lack of transparency, accountability, discipline and formal training within law enforcement agencies and their personnel. i just read these 2 personal accounts of harrowing and traumatic experiences with law enforcement officials which seem to be regular, matter-of-course affairs at least as far as the police and judiciary are concerned. http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/41621 http://www.alloexpat.com/malaysia_expat_forum/viewtopic.php?t=7160 so since you, teresa kok, seem to have more integrity than most of the other politicians and police and since you\'ve been championing the civil rights of the average person and since you are a member of the Select Committee on Review of Penal Code & Criminal Procedure Code, would you as an overdue public service, be so kind as to answer a few basic questions on the rights and responsibilities of an individual, malaysian and foreign, when dealing with the pigs, whoops, i meant police. what are the responsibilities and rights of the police when confronting an individual? what are the rights and responsibilities of the indivdual in such a situation? if confronted by a someone claiming to be a police officer, how can we verify their identity? what must an officer do to prove his/her identity? does an individual have to follow a police officer to the station without being given a very good reason? what are the consequences for refusing to cooperate? does an individual have to allow a police officer into his/her home on demand? aren\'t special warrants endorsed by magistrates necessary? what kind of documents is the individual, malaysian and foreigner, reasonably required to carry at all times on their person? will photocopies suffice? on what grounds can they remand a person? do these grounds have to be revealed to the person immediately? does remand equate with arrest, ie, being officially charged with a crime? if yes, then for how long can they \"remand\" a person before bringing them to court? if no, how long can that person be under remand before being charged? are the police obliged to inform the next-of-kin and if the person is a foreigner, their respective embassy? at what point in the whole process does the individual get to contact his/her family and lawyer. are the police obliged to tell us what our rights are while under detention? for eg. access to family, legal counsel, decent food/accomodation/ medicine/ doctors? does the detainee have any right to make phone calls, to have their religious practices respected, to have their medical conditions including food allergies taken into account whilst in prison? is the detainee required to do everything they are told however unreasonable (stripping naked) and are they required to answer any and all questions asked however personal and irrelevant to the issue at hand? are there any statutory guarantees that secure the rights of detainees? if so, do you mind putting the relevant act on your blog? is there an independent ombudsmen that is accessible to hear complaints of mistreatment, corruption and abuse of power during and after detention? how much authority does that ombudsmen have and are they required to act within a specific period of time? are they obliged to make public their findings? one last suggestion: if you ever manage to answer all these questions on your blog in a coherent and methodical way, perhaps you should consider putting that information in a booklet and getting the government to make it freely available in malay, chinese, english and tamil at every police station in the country so that the ordinary citizen is empowered with the knowledge of their rights while the unscrupulous, exploitative elements within the police are emasculated of their tyrannical powers. i’ve been thinking about returning to m’sia with my non-m’sian girlfriend but one of the big issues that is holding me back is the weak rule of law and justice in the country, especially it seems in the KL area, and the lack of transparency, accountability, discipline and formal training within law enforcement agencies and their personnel. i just read these 2 personal accounts of harrowing and traumatic experiences with law enforcement officials which seem to be regular, matter-of-course affairs at least as far as the police and judiciary are concerned.

http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/41621

http://www.alloexpat.com/malaysia_expat_forum/viewtopic.php?t=7160

so since you, teresa kok, seem to have more integrity than most of the other politicians and police and since you’ve been championing the civil rights of the average person and since you are a member of the
Select Committee on Review of Penal Code & Criminal Procedure Code, would you as an overdue public service, be so kind as to answer a few basic questions on the rights and responsibilities of an individual, malaysian and foreign, when dealing with the pigs, whoops, i meant police.

what are the responsibilities and rights of the police when confronting an individual? what are the rights and responsibilities of the indivdual in such a situation?

if confronted by a someone claiming to be a police officer, how can we verify their identity? what must an officer do to prove his/her identity?

does an individual have to follow a police officer to the station without being given a very good reason? what are the consequences for refusing to cooperate?

does an individual have to allow a police officer into his/her home on demand? aren’t special warrants endorsed by magistrates necessary?

what kind of documents is the individual, malaysian and foreigner, reasonably required to carry at all times on their person? will photocopies suffice?

on what grounds can they remand a person? do these grounds have to be revealed to the person immediately?

does remand equate with arrest, ie, being officially charged with a crime? if yes, then for how long can they “remand” a person before bringing them to court? if no, how long can that person be under remand before being charged?

are the police obliged to inform the next-of-kin and if the person is a foreigner, their respective embassy? at what point in the whole process does the individual get to contact his/her family and lawyer.

are the police obliged to tell us what our rights are while under detention? for eg. access to family, legal counsel, decent food/accomodation/ medicine/ doctors?

does the detainee have any right to make phone calls, to have their religious practices respected, to have their medical conditions including food allergies taken into account whilst in prison?

is the detainee required to do everything they are told however unreasonable (stripping naked) and are they required to answer any and all questions asked however personal and irrelevant to the issue at hand?

are there any statutory guarantees that secure the rights of detainees? if so, do you mind putting the relevant act on your blog?

is there an independent ombudsmen that is accessible to hear complaints of mistreatment, corruption and abuse of power during and after detention? how much authority does that ombudsmen have and are they required to act within a specific period of time? are they obliged to make public their findings?

one last suggestion: if you ever manage to answer all these questions on your blog in a coherent and methodical way, perhaps you should consider putting that information in a booklet and getting the government to make it freely available in malay, chinese, english and tamil at every police station in the country so that the ordinary citizen is empowered with the knowledge of their rights while the unscrupulous, exploitative elements within the police are emasculated of their tyrannical powers.

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