Police will be summoning a news anchor who wrote a letter over the allegedly rude conduct of a patrol officer.
The Subang Jaya district police are also investigating the case under Section 504 of the Penal Code for intentional insult, a crime that can be punished with up to two years in jail.
In the letter published in the New Straits Times, news anchor Muhammed Ahmad Hamdan wrote that the incident occurred just outside his house in Subang Jaya.
He had arrived home at about 1am after presenting the Tuesday midnight news and was unwinding in his car - parked in front of the house - when two officers on motorcycles approached him.
“One of them exhibited rude, arrogant and unprofessional behaviour, which left me disappointed,” he wrote.
Muhammed did not reveal the identity or give any identifying descriptions of both officers.
Chronology of events
He said he had explained to the officers that he just returned from work, and complied when they asked for his MyKad, which had the same address as his house.
The officer, however, held on to the identification card and was allegedly dismissive when asked if there was an issue.
Muhammed alleged that the officer simply told him to comply with orders before asking him to step out of his car.
“Feeling confused and frustrated, I demanded an explanation. One of them said they were conducting routine patrols.
“(I replied) ‘OK, I understand. But please explain properly. Don’t make people confused’.
“Upon hearing this, the police officer said: ‘Explain what?’” Muhammed wrote.
He alleged that the officer interrupted him by saying “explain what?” again before he could explain his concerns.
The other officer then tried to defuse the situation and explain everything.
However, the allegedly rude officer continued to scrutinise Muhammed’s MyKad, and later took a photo of the card and the news anchor without explaining why.
“When he found nothing wrong and returned my MyKad, no apology was offered.
“I come from a family of police officers. I have two brothers-in-law, one serving in the Criminal Investigation Department and the other undergoing training as a pilot with the Air Operation Unit.
“My uncle is a former inspector-general of police. I would be the last person to complain about the police, but what transpired needs to be addressed. Tactfulness or courtesy goes a long way,” he added.
Report lodged
Following the letter’s publication, the officer responded by lodging a police report against Muhammed.
Subang Jaya district police chief Wan Azlan Wan Mamat was quoted by Bernama as saying the officer involved found the article to be untrue, and damaging to the image of the police in the district and in general.
He added that preliminary investigations showed that the two officers who dealt with Muhammed had performed checks according to the law and set guidelines.
Besides the investigation under Section 504 of the Penal Code, police are also investigating the case under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 which covers misuse of network facilities.
When contacted, Muhammed told Malaysiakini that police have yet to get in touch with him over the investigation.
He said he was also shocked that police had launched an investigation against him.
He reiterated that police had barely explained why they were conducting a check on him while treating him like a criminal.
“If this (incident) happened to you, how would you feel? You’re in your personal space, in your own car, parked in front of your own house, but were asked to step out of the car even after seeing the address on your IC.
“On top of that, no explanation was given. How would you feel? Are we living in a police state now?
“I left feeling intimidated and harassed,” he lamented.
He also questioned how the district police chief could deny his version of events when they had not yet even contacted him or recorded his statement. - Mkini
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