malaysiakini: Shot dead by cops: Nameless no more

Shot dead by cops: Nameless no more

Dec 4, 10 5:05pm

It has long been known that of those shot dead by police, ethnic Indians made up a disproportionate number of the fatalities. Based on the recently released statistics by the police, that is true.

But for the first time, details such as the age, ethnicity and nationality of almost all 279 people - citizens as well as foreign nationals - who have been killed by the police from 2000 to 2009 were today revealed by human rights groups.

Malaysiakini has earlier reported that since 2001, there had been a 17-fold surge in fatal police shootings up to 2009, when as many as 88 persons were killed by police as compared to five in 2001.

According to statistics provided by police at the sedition trial of Hindraf chief P Uthayakumar earlier this week, there were a shocking 82 cases of fatal police shootings in 2008, followed by 88 such incidences in 2009.

Revealing the statistics today were Lawyers For Liberty (LFL), Suaram and opposition political party PKR, where it was pointed out that of the 279 persons shot dead, 21.8 percent (61 deaths) were ethnic Indians.

Malays and Chinese, on the other hand, made up 15 percent (42) and 18.6 (52) percent respectively.

Shooting deaths according to ethnicity

2000: Malays (4); Chinese (2) Indians (0)
2001: Malays (0); Chinese (1) Indians (3)
2002: Malays (6); Chinese (12); Indians (6)
2003: Malays (2); Chinese (4); Indians (7)
2004: Malays (2); Chinese (7); Indians (1)
2005: Malays (1); Chinese (4); Indians (4)
2006: Malays (2); Chinese (0); Indians (3)
2007: Malays (3); Chinese (4); Indians (4)
2008: Malays (7); Chinese (9); Indians (11)
2009: Malays (15); Chinese (9); Indians (23)

Total: Malays (42); Chinese (52); Indians (61)

A culture of impunity

Included in the statistics issued by the police on Nov 29 were Vikines Vesuanathan who at 19 in 2003 was shot dead in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan; Muhamad Nir Oth (sic) who was 19 when he was shot three years later in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur; and Mohd Arifudin Mohamad who was 19 when he was shot dead in Kuantan, Pahang, two years ago.

Among the more recent fatalities include 19-year-old Rames Raman who was shot in 2008 in Kulim, Kedah, as well as the April 26 shooting of 14-year-old Aminulrasyid Amzah, Mohd Shamil Hafiz Shafie, 16, Mohd Khairul Nizam Tuah, 20, and Mohd Hanafi Omar, 22, by the police on Nov 20 in Shah Alam.

Pinning the blame squarely on the police and the Home Ministry for the tragic deaths of these youths, LFL member N Surendran said the only reason these yet unaccounted killings have occurred - and many more will occur - is the unwillingness of the authorities to deal with the culture of impunity and 'trigger-happy' elements in police force.

Wording it more bluntly, Surendran said: “Aminulrasyid was seven years old and in primary school, when Vikines was killed in 2003. If the authorities had taken action to prevent these extrajudicial killings since then, Aminulrasyid might be alive today.

“If they don't put a stop to these killings happening now, children who are in kindergarten this year may in just a few years down the road will end up dead from being shot by police,” the lawyer added.

Surendran was speaking to reporters after speaking at a press conference on the matter with Suaram coordinator Lucas Yap Heng Lung, PKR's Subang Jaya MP R Sivarasa and LFL member Fadiah Nadwa Fikri at the KL-Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall in Kuala Lumpur.

Almost half of those killed were foreigners

Also revealed by the rights groups today was the large number of foreign nationals shot dead by police whose cases rarely see the light of day in newspaper reports, if at all their identities are made known.

Almost half of those killed by the police in the last decade were foreign nationals - a total 121 or 43 percent.

Of these, slightly more than 40 percent (113) were Indonesians. The largest number of such fatalities took place in 2008 when 54 Indonesians (up from two in 2007) were shot dead by police.

Unlike the case with the Malaysians, the majority of the Indonesians killed, or about 60 percent, were not properly identified other than by their nationality. Those unidentified are without names and age.

“In short, human beings are being shot, being bundled up, and buried somewhere without even their identities being discovered. This shows that what has taken root in the police force is lawlessness,” said Surendran.

Other nationalities who have been killed over the last 10 years, according to the statistics, are Vietnamese (5), Filipinos (1), Thai (1), and 1 black-African (categorised as 'Negro' in the police statistics).

Need to set up IPCMC now

Comparing the numbers to the incidence of police shootings in other countries, Sivarasa said the lack of an independent body in Malaysia to investigate complaints against the police and police misconduct have resulted in the rot.

In New Zealand, for example, which has a population of only four million, there had been only 22 persons killed in police shootings over 70 years since 1941, said Sivarasa.

In UK, which has almost twice the population as Malaysia, there have been 48 deaths from police shootings over a period of 22 years, between 1985-2007, he added.

Sivarasah said the issue stems from the culture of impunity that has set into the institution of the police whereby a shoot-to-kill policy appears to have the consent, if not encouragement, of the upper levels of the force as well as the ruling politicians.

“This means that the police officers on the ground feel they can do whatever they want because they know they will not be held to account. Shoot, kill, and there will be no questions, no probe, so they continue.

“The inspector-general of police, the people responsible for the PDRM, will not raise these issues, and the politicians in charge - the home minister - will also not question them,” lamented the PKR leader.

He was referring to the denial by Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein that there had been a surge in police shooting fatalities when asked about it earlier this week.

On the lack of transparency on the issue, Sivarasa noted that the statistics were released by deputy director of the Criminal Investigations Department Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani at Uthayakumar's trial only after constant pressure from the latter's lawyers and a directive from the court itself.

Sivarasa said he and the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition will be raising the issue and will increase pressure on the government to put in place the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), which was recommended by a royal commission in 2005.

Lawyers for Liberty: Top 10 facts from the PDRM fatal shootings statistics (2000 – 2009)

06/12/2010

1. Lowest number of deaths: 5 (2001);
2. Second lowest number of deaths: 9 (2000);
3. Highest number of deaths: 88 (2009);
4. Second highest number of deaths: 82 (2008);
5. Total number of deaths from 2000 to 2009: 279 persons;
6. The increase from the lowest number of deaths at 5 (2001) to 88 (2009) is 17-fold;
7. Fatality percentages/ numbers according to race/ nationality:  Indonesians: 40.5% (113 deaths); Indians: 21.8% (61 deaths); Chinese: 18.6% (52 deaths); and Malays: 15% (42 deaths);
8. So Uthayakumar was right to say that Indians are disproportionate victims of fatal police shootings;
9. The number of deaths without proper identification: 80 victims;
10. A Liberian UNHCR registered refugee/ asylum seeker was killed in 2008, and classified under “Negro”!

TMI: Police shot dead 88 in 2009.... by Melissa Chi

Police shot dead 88 in 2009, lawyers reveal

By Melissa Chi

December 04, 2010

The Lawyers for Liberty group revealed the breakdown of fatal shootings from 2000 to 2009, as well as the identity of the victims, which they said was obtained from a reluctant Bukit Aman CID deputy director Datuk Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani.

The senior police officer was a witness at the P. Uthayakumar sedition case last Monday where he revealed the data, which included details of race, nationalities, names and age. The most was 88 in 2009 with the least being five in 2001.

There was a slight fluctuation in numbers between five to 27 deaths prior to the year 2008. Out of the 279 suspects who were fatally shot in the last decade, 81 of them were unidentified.

One of them, a Liberian, classified under “Negro”, David Saah, was a refugee under UNHCER, United Nations’ refugee agency, one of the 82 recorded fatal shootings in 2008.

Lawyer for Liberty group member N. Surendran claimed the data proves that the police are above the law, in this country.

“This shows that what has taken root in the police force is a lawless tendency,” he said, calling it a threat to Malaysians and to the public order.

Subang MP R. Sivarasa, who was also at the press conference, called it 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, there won’t be any investigations and that they can continue doing so,” he said.

The PKR lawmaker also claimed that the Home Minister was at the forefront of blindly defending the police force before any investigations were done.

Sivarasa attributed the high number of fatalities to the reluctance of the federal leaders to set up an efficient Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).

The Malaysian Bar council had been calling to set up such independent body to “keep the police in check”.

Lucas Yap, a coordinator for Suaram, alleged that most of the police involved in the shootings were not in uniforms and did not fire warning shots, before fatally shooting the suspects.

Sivarasa highlighted that in many countries such as the UK, every shot fired by the police will automatically be investigated by the department. The officers would need to explain at length to its superior and file paperwork to justify his or her actions. The the shots had led to injuries or deaths, there will be a public inquest, which is a full court hearing.

“In Malaysia ... inquests are only mandatory for death in custody, that means you have to die in the lockup first,” he said bluntly. The most recent example of a public inquest is the one ongoing, on Teoh Beng Hock’s death under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) custody, last year.

As for the fatal police shootings, the most recent case involved Muhammad Hanafi Omar, 22, Muhammad Shamil Hafiz Shapiei, 15, and Hairul Nizam Tuah, 20, who were gunned down by the police after a reported high-speed car chase in the early morning of November 13 in Glenmarie, Shah Alam.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar had defended the police involved and said that they have responded well in foiling the bid of the gang from robbing a petrol station.

“As you can see, even before there is an investigation, the IGP has exonerated his men. So there is no intention of carrying out a proper investigation, there is no intention of finding out whether those shootings were done, are unlawful killing or murder, or was it actually done in self-defence. So this is why police feel they are able to go around shooting people and killing them in cold blood because immediately the highest police officer comes out defending them.

“They know they can commit murder without being called into account and that is a tremendous power to put in the hands of a human being to tell him that go ahead, commit murder, we will protect you,” Surendran said.

Prior to the trio’s deaths by shooting, 15-year-old Aminulrasyid Amzah’s fatal shooting in April this year grabbed nationwide headlines and sparked a new public interest in such police shootings.

Besides Aminulrasyid, a second case involving the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Mohd Afham Arin in Johor Baru on October 20 last year has also surfaced after the victim’s mother recently demanded an independent commission to investigate the case.

Sivarasa said the current guidelines for the usage of firearms is under the Inspector-General of Police’s Standing Order and the document is classified.

Former Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan had said that it will not be a problem to make the document public and that the public will no longer blindly blame the police of abuse, although the Home Minister was reported as saying that he had not received any proposal from the special task force overseeing police investigations into the fatal shooting of teenage Aminulrasyid to do so.

Fadia Nadwa Fikri from Lawyers for Liberty claimed that Suhakam, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, had asked the police to reveal the IGSO contents, but the request was rejected.

“It is shocking and they are not prepared to answer to the public what they have been doing all these while,” she said. Sivarasa said the only option now is for the public to put pressure on the political authorities responsible for Polis Di Raja Malaysia (PDRM).

“I’ve given up on PDRM. The only hope now is the political masters who are ultimately responsible to the rakyat and I think this is where the rakyat must demand accountability,” he said, pointing specifically to the Home Minister.

“The rakyat will ultimately hold him accountable,” he warned.

He accused the police involved in the shootings of viewing themselves as the “judge, jury and executioner”, calling it an “extrajudicial killing”.

“It is what you call a desperate response to an ineffective police force,” he said.

LKS blog: MUSA: Last Sermon on Bukit Aman by Tunku Abdul Aziz

MUSA: Last Sermon on Bukit Aman

by Tunku Abdul Aziz
15 September 2010

I squirmed. All of a sudden a wave of nausea of tsunami proportions swept over me as I munched my buttered toast while reading a news report in the NST (Sept. 9) that IGP Musa Hassan’s parting wish was that Ismail Omar, his deceptively docile successor, would “emulate him in bringing about changes to the force and lifting its integrity.”

My breakfast to which I had looked forward with great anticipation came to an abrupt end; it became quite unpalatable and totally indigestible. A more insincere and hypocritical load of rubbish would be difficult to imagine, especially coming as it did from the man who confessed, so I was reminded, at the Anwar Ibrahim show trial some years ago that he would not hesitate to tell a lie if ordered to do so by his superiors. We deserved, I suppose, to have Musa set loose amongst us, the unsuspecting long suffering public, as the country’s Inspector-General of Police because we have done nothing, or very little, to stop the general rot in our country.

For Musa, his promotion to the post of IGP was a well-deserved reward for his “turning” operations and for being economical with the truth. Musa was denounced as an unreliable witness in a Sabah law court, a euphemism, if there ever was one, for a hostile witness. In truth, we must not be too hard on the poor man because it is quite possible that “truth” was not in the lexicon of ethics as far as he was concerned.

I thought it odd, to say the least, that he who was literally shown the door had the gall to ask his successor to “emulate” him. Did he really believe that he was worthy of emulation? I should think it the height of arrogance for me, for example, if I were to suggest that anyone should emulate me. Why should they? People emulate you because there is something in you, or about you, that they admire. Emulation is not product money can buy, unlike bare faced flattery or lies which seem to get you everywhere.

It is, I suppose, the measure of the man’s limited grasp of life’s vicissitudes that he continued to harbour the delusion until the end, in spite of the open contempt and disdain shown by the general public during his stewardship of the PDRM, that he was about to make a triumphant exit under a decorated arch with flags and pennants fluttering in the breeze and trumpets blaring.

There is, of course, no accounting for one’s pattern of behaviour in response to particular circumstances. Musa would never in a thousand years admit that he had left a force that is hopelessly demoralised. Ismail Omar has inherited a broken down institution that needs strong, principled and visionary leadership. Ismail Omar’s will be a thankless job. He must quickly wipe out all the negative traces of the Musa years if confidence in the PDRM is to have a ghost of a chance of being restored.

The Government that spent millions to set up the Royal Commission to Enhance the Operation and Management of the Royal Malaysia Police in 2004 must take charge and have all the 125 recommendations implemented. Abdullah Badawi as prime minister not only, in the opinion of the overwhelming majority of Malaysians, slept on the job but also showed no inclination even in rare moments of wakefulness to deal effectively with Musa who, in rejecting the IPCMC, (Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission) declared that if the IPCMC was forced on the police, they would to a man revolt. It was a threat of the most virulent and seditious nature and yet Abdullah Badawi took it all lying down, no pun intended, as if the threat to revolt against an elected government, however the election was conducted, was a normal part of police practice and response in the circumstances.

This naturally led, not surprisingly, to aspersions being cast on Badawi’s integrity. There were suggestions doing the rounds that there was a series of complicated connections that bonded Abdullah Badawi and Musa Hassan. According to many, it was an uneasy close relationship based on mutual survival, bordering on the criminal.

The IPCMC is central to the process of transforming the police force into the police service in which the focus is on service in the public interest rather than concentrating solely on the Police Act. This is a vital mechanism for ensuring that members of the public are protected from police brutality and human rights abuse. On the other side of the coin, the police too will be protected against unfair allegations of illegal acts.

IPCMC if properly constituted will bring about a change in public/police relations which have broken down almost beyond repair. It is not often realised and appreciated that the police work under great pressure and are exposed to great danger, and tend to forget that they are no more than civilians in uniform sworn to protect life and property. They must operate within the law. The police, from experience in many developed countries, need to be protected against themselves and this is where a mechanism such as the IPCMC is vitally important for the development of fair and honourable relations between the police and members of the public.

The government must put in train without delay the implementation of the IPCMC to bring PDRM in line with universally proven best policing practice as part of its much touted governance reform programme. For once, do not let the tail wag the dog as Badawi did to the detriment of effective policing in a multi-racial environment.

(Member of the 2004 Royal Commission to Enhance the Operation and Management of the Royal Malaysia Police)

Shocked, Outraged, Saddened (SOS): Royal Commission of Inquiry Now!!!...

It appears that Malaysians are perennially bombarded by shocks and shock waves, since the epic March 8, 2008 general elections.

One after torrential one, political shenanigans and Machiavellian trickery appear to jolt our sense of justice, equanimity and sense of belonging, of our shaky if aspired to patriotism.

It shatters the already nebulous myth of the jingoistic "1 Malaysia" which continues to belie the unvarnished disarray that consumes our politically-fractured citizens. Sadly, most if not all of these inane happenstances are self-inflicted by unthinking members of an administrative branch run amok, which appear increasingly aloof and out of touch with reality and changing times.

On many occasions too, politicians on either side have been trading body blows of razor-edge brinkmanship, which totters on mutual self-destruction. In its wake, these cheap point-scoring exercises continue to drag some of us, the more rabble-roused citizens deeper into the morasses of futility and despair! No, it's not our fault per se, but it most certainly underscores the pathetic state of justice and sense of fair play in the country.

Political aide, Teoh Beng Hock's untimely and truly unnecessary death has put yet another damper on the institution of justice and law enforcement in the country. This time the hurriedly cobbled together MACC must bear the brunt of this senseless and tragic exercise of unfettered power play and what appears increasingly as blatant one-sided prosecution, perhaps even shameless persecution!

Sadly, the officers in charge appear nonchalantly oblivious that what they have been doing, is anything but impartial or even neutral. Their blinkered attempts to push what must be undisguised probes into so-called complaints of misallocation of funds only of oppositionist lawmakers, surely must be from partisan directives! For fair-minded citizens, there appears not to be any modicum of decency to do the 'right' thing, even if only for show!

Instead, in one fell swoop, officers of the much maligned MACC have destroyed every thinking Malaysian's dream of civility, personal human rights, justice and modern democracy. Their arrogating of power to enforce their duties without regard to natural justice and proper rules of engagement, debases most thinking citizens.

It continues to disabuse us of our fanciful notions that perhaps some semblance of innovation and justice may indeed be the better modus operandi of the new leadership under Prime Minster Najib Razak. If for nothing else, this blatant misuse of the machinery of power, reinforces the need for a more enlightened, a more responsible and accountable system of justice and law. I continue to believe and hope that this new administration can do better and rise above such unnecessary if arrant negative publicity.

It is sad that in the process of trying to enforce the 'law', a young man with so much potential has been so ruthlessly cut down, his life truncated so prematurely, that he had now left behind a bride and his orphan child to be!

This cynical loss of life, so senseless and so unnecessary, points to perhaps another growing culture of arrogance when another's life was dehumanised and cheaply disposed of... Power of authority was all that mattered. This is indeed not something isolated, indeed it is now appearing to be a pattern of ingrained autocracy, unchallenged power among enforcement agencies such as the police and now the MACC, with no foreseeable oversight in place...

Custodial 'torture', unregulated investigation methods, custodial injuries and deaths, now appear to be commonplace, and are occurring with a regularity that showcase our enforcement agencies' callous disregard for human lives and their imperious unconcern for human rights.

When will our helpless, disempowered citizens get justice? When will our Kugan Ananthan, Letchumanan Kathan, Ravindran Alagiry, S Henry, A. Gnanapragasam, and now Teoh Beng Hock, get their justice? When will their true stories be told? When will their loved ones find closure and meaning in such senseless premature loss?

What about the other 1535 custodial deaths that had occurred between 2003 and 2007? Surely these numbers are shockingly high by any standards; they are shameful and unacceptable, and point to a systemic failure of our custodial service, our law enforcement agencies.

Can there be any doubt that these should never have happened, nor must they be allowed to continue? How many more nameless and unnumbered detainees beyond 2007 were there, who have suffered, been injured and who might or might not have perished?

In the 2005 Royal Commission Report for Police Reform, 3 major concerns from the public were identified:

* High incidence of crime and widespread public concern regarding personal safety.
* Public perception of widespread corruption within the police force.
* Extensive and consistent abuse of human rights and non-compliance with prescribed laws.

The report acknowledges that because of the above challenges, there is a growing breakdown of public trust and confidence in the police force. Increasingly the police force is “generally viewed as inefficient, uncaring, unable to prevent or check crime.” Worse, the police is seen to condone widespread “infringements of human rights... and the PDRM is not seen as being transparent or accountable to the public.”

In the light of these weaknesses, a resounding recommendation was made that an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) be set up urgently. This is the proposed external oversight body to be established through an Act of Parliament, and which must be vested with powers to receive and investigate complaints regarding alleged police misconduct and to impose sanctions against any found guilty of such misconduct.

That appears to be the crux of the matter. As of right now, the police force and now the MACC appears to be 'above the law', answerable only to the Home Minister, if that was at all, evident.

There appears to be no oversight body to determine if there have been abuse or misuse of their powers and worse, if they had engaged in criminal activities including custodial abuses of detainees, unlawful taking of lives, any life without justification! There have been instances where, the police had acted as judge, jury and executioners as well, e.g. shooting deaths of groups of so-called armed criminals.

Has there ever been any review of such extrajudicial shootings by any independent police or watchdog Internal Affairs Department, as exist elsewhere? From 2001 to 2003, there were just 6 coroner's inquests, out of 80 reported custoidal deaths—were the other 72 deserving of their untimely deaths?

SUHAKAM (Human Rights Commission of Malaysia) has on several occasions, been promoting the continuing education of human rights to the public—its purpported "work to nurture, develop and advance a human rights culture within Malaysia".

My belief is that the public does need some reminder of their human rights, every now and again. We often take this too much for granted. Sadly, most of us are now fully aware, when tragedies such as Teoh's shocking death, happen. It reminds us that perhaps, these can happen to us too, without rhyme or reason—too chancy, too unbelievably unjust, too unpredictably senseless and too iffy!

Of greater concern is to remind and educate the enforcement agencies such as the police, the military and now the MACC, to be not only mindful of their duties, but to demand their strict adherence to human rights dictates in each of their engagement with the public.

Detainees, witnesses, suspects, prisoners, whoever they are, must be accorded due respect and fairness, until all their legal rights have been exhausted. There should be greater move toward painstaking gathering of evidence, rather than resorting to coercing and extracting confessions, which have been identified as a faulty barbaric mandate preferred by some of our law enforcement officers.

A recent NST editorial "Death of a Witness" makes a logical if grudging apologia for some form of closure to this debacle:

"In the face of a sceptical public which is over-receptive to any and all allegations of bias and subterfuge, and unwilling to give the MACC the benefit of the doubt, while it must be bold and resolute in investigating and prosecuting cases without fear or favour, it must also not abandon due process.

"This makes respect for human rights as critical as the selection process for investigations and the impeccable credentials it must establish for itself if the MACC is to enjoy the wholehearted confidence and close cooperation of the public."

A Royal Commission Inquiry is now mandatory to appease the ghosts of all these custodial deaths, which must now include the MACC. In the interim, the MACC must suspend all its activities pending this full inquiry. Its due processes and rules of engagement must be reviewed and spelt out clearly, with no ambiguity as to which investigative techniques are illegal, and these should be fully subject to oversight sanction.

Legal representation, and continuous videotaping of all suspects and witnesses should be mandatory without exemption. Selection of officers must be entrenched with human rights education and inculcation, and those with wrongful attitudes or aptitudes must be removed or redeployed to other areas which do not interact with the public, lest they resort to actionable if delinquent activities. In other words, it must undergo a total revamp and complete overhaul, if it should ever wish to regain any semblance of credibility, at all...

Teoh's untimely demise must not be in vain! Our shock, our outrage and our sadness must be translated into a meaningful revamp of our enforcement agencies, and hopefully reignite some new belief and help reclaim some confidence in our badly bruised civic institutions...


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