OCT 14 — Congratulations to the IGP who is reported to have taken swift action by arresting, remanding and suspending a female ASP in Penang for dereliction of duty in allowing (or facilitating?) an accused to escape from custody at the Court in Penang.
Congratulations again to him for another swift action in suspending two other officers in Penang allegedly for making racist remarks on WhatsApp.
By the same token, shouldn’t the Attorney General be also suspended for assisting two policemen palace guards, who were knocked off their motorcycle after a snatch theft, to escape the law by making a judgment on their alibi story. Aren’t alibi stories strictly for the courts to put to the test and decide on? Isn’t the AG usurping the powers of the courts to scrutinise the truth or otherwise of an alibi before pronouncing on it? Isn’t the AG’s taking of the two policemen’s alibi at face value beyond the call of his duties as the AG? Since when has it become the SOP of the AG’s Chambers to accept the stories of the suspects at face value and declare “NFA”? So could the IGP please explain to the ordinary person in the street why the AG does not deserve the same treatment meted out to the ASP for allowing an accused to escape the law?
And what about all those cases of “sudden deaths” in police custody?
Can there be any excuse for anyone to die in the lock-ups? Has the police no duty of care to provide medical assistance to any detainee who shows symptoms of being unwell? What is there to fear if the custodians themselves have not laid hands on them and made them unwell in the first place?
Even in war, enemy soldiers who have been wounded and incapacitated have to be given medical assistance and evacuated from the battlefield. Using this yardstick, our police lock-ups would seem to be worse than battle-fields in war zones. What state of incivility must a nation be in to allow this?
Malaysians have been lectured over and over again that laws are meant for all; that there is no favouritism in applying the laws. But when the public sees that laws don’t seem to be applied without fear or favour and question this, innovative reasons are put forward as though the public cannot see through them.
For once I wish Dr M was still in power so he could make these shameless persons who bend backwards to sweep matters under the carpet with their novel explanations, commit hara-kiri. Or would he, by some novel or weird yardstick of his, declare that these people have actually done such a good job of sweeping matters under the carpet and saving the government from embarrassment that they need not commit hara-kiri after all?
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.
