The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is acting unlawfully by forcing individuals arrested to facilitate graft investigations to wear orange lockup uniforms, Padang Serai MP N Surendran said today.
In a statement, the PKR lawmaker cited the high-profile arrests of Penang exco member Phee Boon Poh and former Felda chairperson Isa Samad as examples.
"Both Phee and Isa were taken to court, wearing bright orange MACC lockup uniforms.
"This practice is in breach of the principle that a person is innocent until proven guilty, and hence, is unlawful and in breach of Article 5 of the Federal Constitution," Surendran said.
Article 5 deals with the liberty of a person.
According to Surendran, a person arrested to facilitate an investigation must be allowed to wear his own clothes, and not any kind of uniform provided by the enforcement authority that arrested him.
One can lawfully decline to wear the attire
A person who is made to wear such attire may lawfully decline to do so, he pointed out.
"Being forced to wear these bright orange uniforms and being paraded in the court premises is humiliating to the arrested person and creates the perception that he is indeed a wrongdoer or criminal, even though the court has not pronounced guilt.
"Photographs and videos of arrested persons donning these uniforms are splashed in newspapers and television, thus worsening the public shaming of these persons, who remain innocent in the eyes of the law," said Surendran, who is a lawyer by profession.
He added that the police were also equally guilty of such "unlawful" practices, by making suspects detained for investigations to wear the purple police lockup uniform.
"In contrast, in our prisons, unconvicted persons have the right to wear their own clothes. Regulation 168 of the Prisons Regulation 2000 makes it mandatory for prison authorities to allow unconvicted prisoners to wear their own clothes."
The PKR vice-president also claimed that Phee was "unnecessarily" handcuffed, although "it was clear that he posed no escape risk".
He added: "I call upon the MACC, police and all other enforcement authorities to immediately cease the unlawful and unconstitutional practice of making arrested persons wear these lock-up uniforms.
"Failure to do so may result in civil liability suits against these authorities." - Mkini
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