Letter to Editor
By Prof P Ramasamy
SELANGOR Police Chief Arjunaidi Mohammed might be seen doing the right thing after the custodial death of one Umar Faroq @ Hemathan, 36 years old.
According to Arjunaidi, Umar was detained for the alleged theft of gas cylinders on June 2, 2031. He brought into the South Klang Police Headquarters (IPD) for investigation.
However, before he was sent to the lockup, he freed himself from the policemen to jump from the second floor to the car park. He died as result of injuries that he sustained.
The Selangor Criminal Division have begun the investigation on whether there was negligence on the part of the police personnel and the cause of the sudden death of Umar.
Meanwhile, the police officer who was in charge of the investigation has been transferred to another police pending police investigation on the matter.
I am not disputing the version narrated by Arjunaidi.
The question is: what happened from the time of the arrest of Umar until the time he broke free from the police to jump to one floor down.
I don’t think the action of Umar can be described as suicide.
He probably just wanted to break free from the police in anticipation of what might happened to him once he was placed in the lockup.
Arjunaidi merely gave limited information as to what happened to Umar during a one day detention.
Was he assaulted by the police, who were the persons responsible and the manner of injuries sustained?
If he had suffered injuries while under interrogation, then there is a probability that the might have not died just from the fall.
The cuts on his face and other bodily injuries could have preceded the jump or fall.
Under normal circumstances, a police officer suspected of being responsible for causing the death of a detainee would be suspended from duty until the full investigation was completed.
However, in this case, it is a bit odd.
The suspected police officer was just transferred to another police station pending investigation.
Thus, going on the basis of earlier police investigations on police personnel, the outcome is predictable.
The chances that the police investigation by the Selangor CID Division might return the verdict of not guilty.
In the case of the death of Umar, the police officer under investigation might even be the fall guy.
Arjunaidi appearing to be transparent is just not enough. He knows very well that there is no full disclosure of what really happened in the case of the death of Umar.
Just because the investigation has been handed over to the CID does not mean anything.
As I have said before, the police cannot investigate themselves. The matter must be handed over to independent body. When this independent body will be formed could be anybody’s guess.
Given the rise in custodial deaths, a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) is more than justified.
If lives of Indians matter in this country, the Government should have no qualms in establishing an RCI.
If an RCI is set up, it can go into the details of why there are custodial deaths in the last 20 years or so, how the police conduct their investigation, the standard operating procedures (SOPs), the chain of command and the effectiveness of the existing laws to curb the custodial deaths.
An RCI can also broach the question of why there are so many custodial deaths of Indians in the country.
Whether Indians are more prone to partake in crimes rather than other races?
Or whether there are sociological reasons as to why Indians take to crime? Is because of the pernicious nature of discrimination by a political system that gives priority to majoritarian concerns?
Or it is akin to the social situation like in the United States where the lives of blacks don’t matter anymore? In Malaysia, do Indians lives matter?
How prevalent is racism and bigotry amongst the predominantly Malay dominated police force? Can the composition of the police be changed in the future to reflect a more multi-racial identity?
Contrary to what was said about Arjunaidi and other senior police recently, laws might be there to punish the wrongdoers.
But the question is: who is going to enforce the laws without fear of favour?
Arjunaidi is no different from his newly minted boss, IGP Acryl Sani Abdullah Sanusi. I am not sure whether Acryl Sani is pleased to know that the minute he took office, custodial deaths started mounting.
At least Arjunaidi for all his faults talks about investigation of the police personnel who might be involved in the latest custodial death, but Acryl Sani thinks of only adding one more item to the police SOP.
What is the point of tightening the police SOP, when adherence to it is rather disappointing? – June 6, 2021
Prof P Ramasamy is the Penang deputy chief minister and Perai state assemblyman.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
