KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 – Deputy Speaker Datuk Ismail Mohamed Said today barred MPs from raising the A. Kugan case in the Dewan Rakyat, arguing that it would be subjudice to the proceedings despite the High Court having delivered its judgement on June 26.
The ban came after PKR vice-president and Padang Serai lawmaker N Surendran highlighted the lack of concrete action on Kugan’s and other police custodial deaths case in his Royal Address debate.
Ismail’s ultimatum today followed widespread criticism over the government’s plan to appeal the civil suit judgment on Kugan’s death that saw High Court judge V.T. Singham holding Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar liable to misfeasance in the 2009 case.
“Even though the judgement was made, the government still has 30 days to appeal,” Ismail told Surendran in justifying his ban on the sensitive issue.
The Dewan Rakyat Speaker and his deputies are already struggling to deflect accusations of bias and today’s ban will likely strengthen that allegation and scrutinise the federal government’s earlier pledge to reform the parliamentary system.
The appeal decision, announced yesterday by Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, comes at a time when Malaysians are baying for blood over recent reports on the alarming number of deaths in police custody — cases similar to Kugan’s controversial death in 2009.
In the past month, federal lawmakers and civil rights groups have been pressuring the government into acting against abusive cops and demanding a total revamp of current avenues to check hard-handed tactics used by enforcement authorities against detainees in lock-ups.
Surendran had told The Malay Mail Online that if Putrajaya insisted on appealing the Kugan verdict, which had put the blame on the police for the youth’s death, he would not hesitate to take the fight to the “public stage”.
“It’s a disappointing decision that was made because of the objections raised by the Barisan Nasional (BN) backbenchers who are afraid that the gory details of the case would be raised in Parliament,” the Padang Serai MP told The Malay Mail Online in an immediate reaction to the ban.
Surendran noted that the raging debate over the alarming number of deaths in detention is of public interest.
“Parliament is where this matter should be discussed in,” he added.
Surendran, who is also PKR vice-president, said that although the deputy speaker had the power to issue the ban, lawmakers also have the right to challenge the ruling under the parliamentary laws.
He also argued that even if an appeal against the high court ruling had been filed, it is not automatically subjudice to discuss the case.
Several Pakatan Rakyat (PR) lawmakers had last week demanded Khalid’s resignation after Singham delivered his judgment in the Kuala Lumpur High Court. The senior judge has since retired.
Singham was reported by news portal The Malaysian Insider as saying last Wednesday that the injuries on Kugan, a suspected car thief, could not have been inflicted by one police officer, after senior officers pleaded ignorance.
Former Police Constable V. Navindran, the sole person charged over Kugan’s death, was sentenced last year to three years’ jail for causing hurt to the 23-year-old. Navindran is appealing the conviction.
In the ruling over the negligence suit brought by Kugan’s family, the court reportedly awarded the claimants RM751,700 in damages and RM50,000 in costs.
The historic High Court ruling comes after three policemen were charged recently with murdering N. Dhamendran on May 21 while the 32-year-old former lorry driver was under remand in the city police contingent headquarters here.
Including Dhamendran, nine deaths in police custody have occurred this year so far. The latest case is that of a 33-year-old Japanese man who died in his cell at the USJ8 police station lock-up on June 8.
Since 2006, the Bar Council and civil society have been pushing for the implementation of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) — which was mooted by a royal commission led by former Chief Justice Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah — but to no avail as it was shot down by the top brass of the police.
