In yet another sign of systemic failure and loss of public confidence in Malaysia, a mother of a 22-year old man beaten to death in police custody sought the help of the King to get justice for her son and her family.
“This is a very sad situation where the people in the country have no other recourse but to turn to the King for help and justice. We hope His Majesty will take note and try to do something because it is getting worse by the day,” Bagan Serai MP N Gobalakrishan told Malaysia Chronicle.
Never gave up
Despite hardship the mother of Kugan Anathan never gave up. It was only during her third try that N Indra finally succeeded in presenting a 4-point petition to the Palace.
"Why they murder my son and say that he had died (of natural causes)? I want all those guilty to be punished for his death," Malaysiakini reported Indra as saying.
Kugan, a car theft suspect, was in police remand when he died on January 20, 2009. At first, the Selangor police chief said he died due to fluid in his flungs, based on a post-mortem conducted by the Serdang Hospital.
Acting on a tip-off, Kugan’s family had dashed into the morgue and took extensive pictures of his badly bruised corpse. Even so, the police refused to release his body for a second post-mortem.
But thanks to a massive public outcry, Prime Minister Najib Razak was forced to relent. The second pathology report confirmed the public’s worst fears – Kugan had been tortured and beaten to death.
The case was reclassified as murder but after a protracted investigation, only one policeman V Navindran was charged for causing grievous hurt - a vastly lesser charge than murder.
Kugan’s family and lawyers believe at least 10 police officers had contributed to his death.
"The police, the court and even the Prime Minister's department had failed us. This was our last resort," Kugan's lawyer N Surendran said.
Terrible record, growing police partisanship
Malaysia has one of the worst records for custodial deaths in the region. According to non-governmental organization SABM, there have been 1,805 custodial deaths 2003 and July 16, 2009. The government has disputed this number but it is based on Home Ministry data.
Former Deputy Home Minister Wan Fairuz Wan Salleh had on July 8, 2008, told Parliament 1,531 individuals died in custody between 2003 and 2007. Updated with numbers provided by another NGO, Suaram, the tally came up to 1,805.
In recent months, the trend has become worse as political parties begin to fight in earnest for power. The police too have become increasing partisan in their actions.
On Wednesday, popular MP for PJ Utara Tony Pua lodged a police complaint after receiving a live M-16 bullet in the mail along with a note that threatened to harm him and his family.
"In September 2008, a Molotov cocktail was thrown into my family home together with a note that said they would set my family and I on fire," said another opposition lawmaker Teresa Kok.
"In September 2009, someone who called himself “hanturaya” wrote on my blog that “teresa, kau ni perlu diajar dgn darah t.kasih ”. To date, the perpetrators of these death threats have yet to be nabbed by the police."
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.