DAP lawmaker Ramkarpal Singh has fired a salvo at Saifuddin Nasution Ismail after the home minister said the patrons of the health club that the police raided recently were involved in immoral activities.
Taking his Pakatan Harapan colleague to task, Ramkarpal (above, left) reminded Saifuddin that the case had not been investigated properly.
“Such comments, without the benefit of proper investigations, are clearly an affront to the principle of one being innocent until proven guilty.
“Saifuddin should know better before making such remarks, which can be detrimental to the integrity of the investigation process,” the Bukit Gelugor MP said in a statement today.
Yesterday, Saifuddin defended the police’s action in raiding a health club alleged to have been involved in same-sex activities.
Saifuddin claimed that the raid, which resulted in the arrest of over 200 individuals, did not violate their privacy.
“Privacy is when a person is alone at home. This is a public premises with 201 people, what privacy are we talking about?
“It is an immoral act that cannot be defended by any religion,” he said.
The court eventually rejected the police’s remand application, prompting Saifuddin to say there was a need to review existing laws on the matter as the authorities did not have enough time to take action.
Respect remand order safeguards
Unimpressed, Ramkarpal reminded Saifuddin that Section 117 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which mandates the police to produce a detainee within 24 hours of arrest, serves as a safeguard against possible abuses of process by the police and the right to liberty as enshrined in Article 5 of the Federal Constitution.
Therefore, the DAP leader said, any moves to amend the law are ill-advised and ought to be dismissed outright.
“It is unclear if Saifuddin has consulted other stakeholders, apart from the police, before announcing that a review of such laws is needed.
“If he has not, he should refrain from publicly making such comments,” Ramkarpal added.
‘Cannot dismiss civil servants easily’
Ramkarpal also hurled brickbats at Deputy Higher Education Minister Mustapha Sakmud after the latter admitted to asking a civil servant caught in the raid to resign.
He reminded Mustapha that the administrative and diplomatic officer must be given the right to be heard instead of being told to resign, adding the officer had not even been charged in court with any crimes.
“This is clearly against Article 135(2) of the Federal Constitution, which states that a reasonable opportunity of being heard must be given before a public officer is dismissed or reduced in rank, unless the conduct of that officer comes within any of the exceptions in the said Article, which includes being dismissed or reduced in rank on account of a criminal conviction.
“As such, the ministry ought not arbitrarily dismiss him without allowing him an opportunity to defend himself by way of written representations and possibly affording him an oral hearing for the said purpose,” he stressed.
On Dec 1, Mustapha said the ministry’s integrity unit had initiated an internal investigation “towards disciplinary action” in accordance with service regulations against the officer.
"The officer concerned has been instructed to resign with immediate effect from the deputy minister’s office.
"The Higher Education Ministry emphasises that no one is exempt from the legal and governance processes, and any further action will be decided based on the findings of the integrity unit’s investigation and in cooperation with the relevant authorities,” he added.
Apart from protection under the Federal Constitution, the Public Officers (Conduct and Discipline) Regulations 1993 (POCD 1993), which set out rules on misconduct, discipline, dismissal, and demotion, also mentions that civil servants cannot be dismissed arbitrarily. - Mkini
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