KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 — Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said the police will look into rapper Wee Meng Chee's allegations of unsanitary conditions at a Penang detention centre.
Khalid said many lock-ups across the country were still undergoing upgrades to bring them on par with those in the Klang Valley.
“Surely [we will look into it]. Yes. We are aware of what he is saying,” he told reporters at the Bukit Aman federal police headquarters here today.
“If he files a report, it would be good. But we can already take action based on what he has said,” he added.
However, Khalid said police must also consider that the complaints by the rapper commonly known as Namewee were isolated, and that he may also be disgruntled by his remand over a music video that was allegedly insulting to Muslims.
“We are well aware that some of our lock-ups are in an upgrading phase. If you look at areas in the Klang Valley for example, we already have modern centralised lock-ups that are well equipped,” he said.
“But lock-ups in old stations and old contingents are still in an upgrading stage to reach the same standards as the central lock-ups that we have in places like Shah Alam and Jinjang.”
Local daily The Star had reported yesterday Penang police chief Comm Datuk Abdul Ghafar Rajab denying Wee’s claims of poor conditions of a lock-up in Penang where sick Myanmar detainees were held, and challenged Wee to lodge a report.
Wee had reportedly made the claims on social media, following his recent four-day remand at the Bayan Baru police lock-up over his music video Oh My God!
In the social media postings that The Star said had been removed, he reportedly spoke of meeting 15 illegal immigrants from Myanmar, where some had allegedly spent more than a month in detention.
He had claimed that these detainees were placed in small cells with poor conditions, adding that they were in poor health, while also voicing his suspicion that some were suffering from tuberculosis.
