Lawyers representing the victims’ families in the Durian Tunggal fatal shooting in Malacca last November have questioned the police’s “double standards”.
They highlight how none of the suspects have been remanded, despite the case being recently classified as murder.
At a memorandum handover outside the Bukit Aman police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today, lawyers N Rajesh, Zaid Malek, and social activist Arun Dorasamy outlined demands, including arresting and charging the police officers involved in the fatal shooting.
“Despite the fact that this case has been classified under Section 302 of the Penal Code as murder, none of the police officers involved in the shooting have since been remanded or arrested.
“No action has been taken, and no one has been charged. This is completely contradictory to the police’s usual standard operating procedure, where suspects for murder are immediately remanded…
“That is how it should work, but in this case, no one has been remanded. So why the double standards?” asked Rajesh.
On Nov 24, three men aged between 24 and 29 were reportedly shot dead at an oil palm estate in Durian Tunggal at about 4.30am after one of them allegedly injured a corporal with a machete.
The victims’ families have since denied the allegations, prompting the police to form a special task force to investigate the incident.
On Dec 16, the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) then reclassified the incident as a murder case, after examining police reports.
‘Favouritism when cops involved’
At the memorandum handover today, Zaid, who is the director of Lawyers for Liberty, also noted that the officers have not yet been suspended, despite being suspects in a murder probe.
“The fact that the police have issued statements saying that the officers are ‘no longer on active duty’ means that they have still not been suspended, and are still working,” he said.
Zaid was responding to a statement made by Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department director M Kumar on Dec 29, who announced that the officers have been removed from active duty amid ongoing investigations.
“As a lawyer, I want to emphasise how the government has promised a thorough and transparent investigation, yet we can still see that there is favouritism and differential treatment when police are involved in such crimes,” he added.
“If ordinary citizens commit such crimes, would they also be treated the same way? The rakyat deserve reassurance that even the police and authorities will be investigated for committing crimes, but this is not what we are witnessing today.
“This is a serious matter, and the people deserve to be reassured that the law should always be applied in a fair and egalitarian way,” Zaid stressed.
Arun also pointed out that there have been no updates from the special task force established by the police when the case was first publicised in November last year.
“Until today, we do not know who is leading this task force, who else is involved, and what they are doing.
“Despite lodging police reports ourselves and sharing the necessary evidence, we have still not yet even been called to give a witness statement to assist with the investigation,” he said.
Call for action on Malacca police chief
Alongside urging the immediate arrest and suspension of the officers involved in the case, the group also outlined three other demands, including the immediate suspension or transfer of the Malacca police chief while investigations were ongoing.
Additionally, they urged the state police chief to be probed for allegedly interfering with the investigation, as well as to launch an investigation into claims of tampering with evidence.
The memorandum was handed over to a representative from Bukit Aman around 10.30am this morning, and was signed by lawyers Zaid, Rajesh, social activist Arun, and representatives from the victims’ families. - Mkini
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