Reformasi kaki abused during remand
Monday, 28-11-2005
We held another press conference on police abuse scandal this morning.
Reformasi activisit Nora, a Muslim woman, was asked to strip in front of police woman and squat ten times at the women’s police lock-up at Kapar Police Station.
She was arrested by police on 4 November 2000 while looking for a place to set up her stall to hawk food to those attending a Keadilan-organisd event.. Not long after she arrived, she saw Klang Municipal Council officers arrive with FRU, police and General Operations Force Officers in tow.
She and others who were arrested were brought to the Kapar Police Station. Nora was released on November 10 and no charges without charges being laid.
Nora has complaint to that joke named Suhakam but nothing came out after the report. This is another incident which proves cops do not discriminate as they abuse and bullly citizens and tourists from every community
Before we have our press conference, Wan Azizah and I brought Nora to meet with Noh Omar at the Parliament lobby.
Noh Omar was not very friendly, he asked why did the police only mistreated Nora in that manner but not to all her other friends? Kak Wan refuted him by saying that he should not ask this question that implied Nora was doing something very wrong.
Noh Omar also questioned me about the Chinese girls who were mistreated in the Squatgate scandal.
He said some 500,000 Chinese nationals came in as tourists and went missing in Malaysia. He was trying to defend the abuses that are happening in the police station. When he was meeting us, the journalists and TV crew came surrounding us, Noh Omar then told us that he prepared to answer all our allegations in the Dewan Rakyat tomorrow if the Speaker allows my emergency motion to be debated tomorrow.
Judge from the way he answered and his attitude which seemed a bit unfriendly, and from the racial tone that he expressed, I was thinking in my heart, if this is the attitude and line he is going to take, then all the statements and efforts made by Pak Lah and the cabinet ministers that pressurising the police will be spoilt by his statement tomorrow.
I have told the media that I welcomed the statement made by Pak Lah to establish an independent committee to investigate the allegations by the 4 Chinese nationals earlier, but the issue now is, it should not end here, the Cabinet should form the independent commission that handle the complaints and misconduct of police as a long term solution.
When i was about to end my writing on the blog, I received a call from the Malay Mail reporter who asked me to comment on the statement made by Noh Omar on the allegation of Nora. He said Nora can sue the government if she is unhappy with the government. I told the reporter that this is a very unfriendly attitude. He as the Deputy Minister of Internal Security, he should express concern and deal with various allegations made by members of public. His attitude is entirely against the stand of cabinet ministers and Pak Lah himself who are looking into the complaints seriously. I said I appreciate the stand taken by Pak Lah on the allegations made by the 4 Chinese nationals, when he came back from overseas, he immediately ordered an investigation to be carried out and said no over-up over the case. This is what’s wanted by the people and international community, and not the attitude that’s shown by Noh Omar.
Do you know that there is a forum on the “Police Video Clip Scandal:Implication and Remedy” organised by DAP at Federal Hotel this coming Saturday 3-12-2005 at 2.30pm?Viewed it from DAP website.
Comment by yeahwho — Monday, 28-11-2005 @ 21: 50.19
You are doing a great job Ms. Teresa and you can be sure of my full support for your work in uncovering police abuses of powers. I have always been against the vast powers given to the police which will and has no doubt leads to abuses. Although I do admit in certain cases they do need to execise it, but where are the check and balances? From their own in Bukit Aman or from the interior Ministry? Wouldn’t that lead to more cover up as it is just a case of internal “housekeeping”?
I fully support the setting up of an ombudsman or an independant panel to review complaints on police abuses.
For the time being, keep up the wonderful work and you can be sure of my vote for you in the next election.
Regards,
Justin Hong
superknight88@yahoo.com
Comment by superknight — Monday, 28-11-2005 @ 22: 07.39
It would be good news as Pak Lah said that he will establish an independent committee to investigate the allegations by the 4 Chinese nationals earlier. However, I shall like to disagree with this establishment.
Instead Pak Lah should immediately form the much awaited and recommended IPCMC. Doing so, it not only solve this issue but also any other issues that may come along in the future. Why waste taxpayers’ money when the previous Police Royal Commission had proposed the IPCMC to solve the complaint and misconduct of the police. This would be the simple solution for this type of misconduct. Why complicate the matter? Previous Commission had done the work very well and comprehensive. Do you think this independent body could do better?
I am not against to establish one, but this process may looks like just repeating what the Police Royal Commission had already said and recommended to solve this type of misconduct. Please do not waste public fund to repeat and recommends the same thing. Though, initially I favour the establishment of such body instead of police investigate their own members, later on I realised that the outcome may just repeat what the previous Commission has done.
Some people may argue that this is better than nothing, but currently we are all in high spirit to punish the police for such misconduct. Form the IPCMC and punish the police who treat the 4 women and another one. This first case should set a precedent for other in the force as the lesson. Let the police fear the IPCMC and they will think twice before playing the fool with the member of the public.
Comment by DoingTheRightThing — Monday, 28-11-2005 @ 22: 21.26
Omar’s attitude is clearly one of utter arrogance and shows a total disregard for human dignity. This idiocy is the result of a hollow pride that exudes from a sadomasochist.
His stand is diametrically opposed to the one taken by the Prime Minister.
Omar does not possess diplomatic finesse, neither does he care about the tourist dollar and the resultant effect on the nation’s economy. He has no tact, no decency, no brains.
The government seems to be neither here nor there!
Will the PM explain what then is the government’s real stand on this issue.
Perhaps the PM should send Omar rather than Azmi to China to explain our position.
Comment by tony — Monday, 28-11-2005 @ 23: 03.39
I was utterly shocked by the recent comments of Musa Hassan and Noh Omar on the ‘standard operating procedures’ of ordering a detainee to strip and do ear-squat. I may not be qualified to say anything about this as I know little about laws, but let’s hear from those who are well-qualified. Below is an excerpt from an article entitled ‘Strip Search: It’s not Legal, Says Lawyer’ on the Malaysian Bar Council webpage (http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/content/view/2079/2/):
‘Stripping a woman detainee in a police lock-up and making her do ear squats in the nude may be “standard operating procedure” to the police, but is it legal?...”No,” said human rights lawyers. “Where in the Lock-up Rules 1953 does it say that a body cavity search can be done? “While the police claim that such searches are part of their standard operating procedures (SOPs), they must realise that their SOPs are not the law of the land. Any SOP has to be based on valid laws,” said lawyer Amer Hamzah Arshad…Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Musa Hassan was reported as saying that all detainees were required to strip and be searched before being sent to the lock-up. The police could also ask detainees to do squats.Amer Hamzah disagreed: “The mere fact that the police had conducted such searches previously as part of their SOPs does not make such searches legal, if in the first place there is no law to allow such searches.”
The comments and attitude of our cabinet ministers have really worried us. I think the ruling coalition and the government are too corrupt to allow the ‘moral minority’ like Mr. Abdullah Badawi to reform them from within.
Comment by Lee Wang Yen — Tuesday, 29-11-2005 @ 00: 34.43
More victims of malaysian police come forward
It seems 3 chinese girls in the fu jian region of china has come forward to reveal that they have been with wrongly detained for 14 days by malaysian authorities. There were another 32 china girls that were imprisonned with them
Trackback by girl of may — Tuesday, 29-11-2005 @ 01: 03.36
I have to disagree that our police do not discriminate tourists of all community. From my observation, there has been very little discrimination against Caucasians and rich countries like Japan.
Comment by 周瑜 — Tuesday, 29-11-2005 @ 11: 38.05
From my point of view, i think the foreign tourist should not be treated brutally such as what happened to one chinese girl who was forced to strip her clothes and do ear squat in front of policewoman many times. Instead, my recommendation is “fire the policewoman on the spot” as it is a lesson for police not to ill treat the foreign tourist.
Comment by wongch85 — Tuesday, 29-11-2005 @ 12: 38.34
I want to ask why the the police took so long to see if the chinese have real passport or fake??
Noh Omar how dare you say this is the standard operating procedure???
But the BAR say “IT’s NOT LEGAL”
SO NOH OMAR U BIGGER THAN Malaysian Bar Council??
OR you are the rules???
Noh & DIGP! What PM decide have show u both are wrong!
U both RESIGN
Comment by Ky — Tuesday, 29-11-2005 @ 12: 40.16
first of all, well done ms teresa kok. kudos to your spirit and courage to bring justice to those who are deprived of it.
it’s shocking to see such attitude from Noh Omar, the deputy minister in charge of the police force. and regarding his statement regarding the missing chinese tourist, i find it amuzing. he should ask azmi for the latest figure before he made this statment. he must have get his ‘data’ from the immigration department website and if his source is accurate, then probably singapore, by now, is a deserted island (even the ghosts are not there). See this “http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/11/26/nation/12700900&sec=nation”. i wonder if he is an elected representative (or appointed). if he continue to act this way, he is definitely a liability to abdullah badawi’s effort towards a just and transparent government.
have we ever asked ourselves if these are all that is happening(“helping hands”, abuse of powers, death in dentention, unconstitutional acts etc..)? what we read in newspapers is maybe only the tip of the iceberg and if this is the case, it is really scary. ms. teresa kok blogs that the media have received the “abu ghraib” video clip two weeks before she do and the media choose not to report it out of fear (or something like that). they can’t be blamed. as we all know, it is well known that media in this country is very restricted.
the police statement that strip searching is their so-called standard procedures and and Lee WY comments that these actions are not legal is also a very worring trend. I am not a lawyer but i remember that i was taught in school that malaysia’s constitution is suppose to be highest authority of the land (unless this is not the case anymore, i don’t know – even malaysia has been declared a islamic country), and any action or even law contradicting the constitution should be deem void. i still remember that our basic human rights is granted in the constitution, if i am not mistaken, but what we’re seeing now is that these rights is being blatantly violated by the police (the body entrusted to uphold the law of the country), as is the case with the chinese nationals and also nora. what saddened me most is that some people even have the guts to defend these despicable acts of theirs (or their subordinates). i always believe that the constitution is the foundation of our country, based on which we developed our culture, our vision, our civilazation and etc. etc. if even those who are entrusted to uphold this sacred institution don’t show any respect or regard to it, i wonder what is going to be of this country. we can never become a developed country if we are still practicing barbaric acts. we pride ourselves as the role model of modern islamic countries and i wonder if islam permits such despicable acts. from my understanding of islam, i think it is safe to say that islam condemn such acts (especially those done undo the chinese women).
btw, where is our MCA representatives? up to this moment, i still haven’t hear anything from them. is it because you choose not to bother as these victims are not eligible to vote for you? or is it because by helping, the risk of offending your boss in the governmetn outweight the benefit you get in term of publicity?
Comment by steven — Tuesday, 29-11-2005 @ 12: 41.27
Hi Teresa
The police says the girl in the video is a drug suspect. By doing the squats, they hope that the ? drugs hidden in the private parts will ? drop off. Call a female doctor in to do it!
Police says other countries also have this procedure. Why copy from others?
I fear that the police has become xenophobic and single out the poor and the womenfolk because they think they don’t know about human rights.
Comment by cashanson — Tuesday, 29-11-2005 @ 12: 47.57
Totally disgusting the Malaysian police should do this. PM should order the stopping of strip search of all foreign nationals immediately unless they are terrorists.
1) Why has the PM not done this?
2)Why are they going after the whistle blower.
3) Why was not the policewoman immediately given a warning and put on leave or sacked as a warning or to other police personnel.
Please Teresa put a stop to this disgusting Malaysian Police double standards. Strip search is just a excuse to humilate people, what guarantee this “Police Normal Procedure” is not enforced on Malaysians of all races?
4)Will Omar and Musa object if they are stripped search overseas?
5)The Malaysian Chinese community should hire lawyers to sue the police.
6) Is these how we treat people who visit our country?
7) This is a complete ABUSE of power by the POLICE and protecting thier own people.
Comment by ravim — Tuesday, 29-11-2005 @ 13: 37.53
Since the incidents about polices wrong doing came up, I must stress that I have been hearing lots of such cases with police (or authorities) abusing their power. Things that happened as far as 10 years ago is being retold. Frankly, I am not surprise and I am sure so does most of you. Everyone knows whenever you are doing some reporting to at Balai Polis, you need to pay them some “kopi” money so that they will treat you better or else they treat you the victim like a criminal. Abuses like this goes on and on vertically and horizontally and whichever department.
Something must be done! If we do not take this oppurtunity to do something, things like this will continue eat into every Malaysian’s life. The problem is, even people who is supposed to do something like the ACA or internal police investigation department are not doing their job. I strongly feel that this is due to corruption.
And then there is this statement saying “You can always sue the police for their misconduct”. But can we? We start doing it and we will get all the harassment and our life will be threaten. You think nobody ever wanted to do something about this misconduct? Everytime they start doing it, the police or whatever authorities will use dirty trick to stop the victim to doing harm on the so called “standard procedures”.
Speaking of corruption, everybody knows this is happening just that nobody have proof or bothered to do anything about it. I think that all countries have corruption problems but ours has deteriorate up to a very bad level. Hope that something can be done.
BTW, I hope people who claims that they support this and that is doing it with active role. I really hate those who said this and that but in the end only talk the talk.
Lastly, MS Teresa Kok, keep up the good work.
Comment by abubin — Tuesday, 29-11-2005 @ 14: 07.21
Hi Teresa,
Thanks for recounting your conversation with Noh Omar. This gives us a good picture of what they are doing and saying. I think what he said is utterly irresponsible. Would you please show him a copy of the Star’s article on the problems of immigration statistics (http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/11/26/nation/12700900&sec=nation). He owes us an apology for making unfounded statements based on the inferences he made from his ignorance about statistics and the interpretation of data. Even Azmi has acknowledged the problems of making such claims on the basis of statistics. At least he has a better grasp of statistics!
Comment by Lee Wang Yen — Tuesday, 29-11-2005 @ 15: 04.32
Although the abuses may appear without discrimination, judging from past incidents on Chinese nationals, they are more prone to sexual abuse and the issue of the Chinese girls are also about sexual humiliation.
So far, there is no allegation saying that other nationals are being groped and videoed. Obviously, the video was intended to be enjoyed by the group and it got spread out when it is shared with members outside the station.
Comment by AdmiralChengHo — Tuesday, 29-11-2005 @ 15: 07.35
I believe Pak Lah’s intentions are sabotaged by his ministers and the so-called leaders of the civil service. Those who don’t agree with Pak Lah and those who don’t intend to carry out his intentions and orders should resign.
Comment by bayibhyap — Tuesday, 29-11-2005 @ 20: 12.27
I don’t theink they implement any SOP, but i certainly believe after closing the file, will Yamseng VSOP.
Bolehland, Bolehman…. semua boleh, Ole le….VSOP
Comment by Yingxiong — Wednesday, 30-11-2005 @ 00: 13.30
paklah once again in dilemma..that result of ur dishonest speechless…where’s “mesra cepat betul” thing?
Comment by azeem GERAK — Thursday, 01-12-2005 @ 08: 45.24