LETTER | Cold-blooded killing by cops - does the govt condone it?

LETTER | Can the prime minister, home minister and the inspector-general of police (IGP) sleep peacefully with their hands thickly covered with the blood of Muhammad Shamil Hafiz Shapiei, 15, Mohd Hairul Nizam Tuah, 22, and Muhammad Hanafi Omar, 21, who were shot dead by the police at Glenmarie in Shah Alam, Selangor, in the most heinous way?

The cold-blooded shooting took place on Nov 13, 2010, and the High Court in Shah Alam delivered its verdict a few days ago, awarding the families over RM1.5 million in damages.

The damages, even if increased by 10-fold or even 20-fold, mean nothing as the lives of the young boys cannot be brought back. Money is not king in such cases.

According to forensic evidence, as reported in Malaysiakini on July 1: "...the angle of entry bullets, number of bullets fired and the distance they were fired from all negated the police version of events.

"The post-mortem made it very clear that the police version was not true and what had happened was that the boys were made to kneel, their shirts were pulled over their heads, and they were executed on the spot," according to lawyer N Surendran.

"The bullet entry wound on Syamil was at a 45-degree angle, thus proving that he must have been kneeling. There was also gunshot residue on the shirts showing the bullets were fired from close range," Surendran added.

This is not the first case of wanton shooting by the police, as if doing target practice on living persons. Just six months before the shooting of these three children, another one, Aminulrasyid Amzah, was shot dead in April 2010.

Fifteen years ago, a Royal Commission set up to look into police misbehaviour, had recommended that an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) be set up as the police cannot be allowed to investigate the police.

Justice can never be done by the police investigating their own staff for the simple reason that no one will put a rope around one's own neck, in instances like this around the neck of the IGP first, then the neck of the home minister and eventually that of the prime minister, as they are all responsible to ensure such extreme misbehaviour is absent from the police force.

All the former IGPs, except Abdul Hamid Bador, had been deadly against the setting up of the IPCMC. They all knew what was (and is) going on within the fortress walls of the PDRM, eg the never-ending deaths in custody, and shootings outside of those walls.

Why then the strong objections to the IPCMC if not to tacitly allow the unlawful happenings to continue without being investigated by independent persons so that the "image" of the police is not damaged? Unfortunately, Hamid was not able to get the IPCMC started before he retired, although he had supported its setting up.

Do unexplained deaths in custody and shootings such as of these boys not damage the image of the PDRM? And that must affect the morale of the honest officers in the force. So, is the moral of the good officers not worth protecting by acting against the bad apples? Or are the good officers expected to graduate to the level of the rogue officers?

Hamid had revealed serious misdeeds in the PDRM just before he retired, but the government is not the least interested in appointing a Royal Commission to investigate them. By default, this disinterest could mean just one thing, that the government is well aware of the goings-on and is happy to let the lawlessness go on for reasons best known to it.

The pathologist(s) who did the post-mortems need to be commended for their clear reports and leaving no doubts as to what had happened, eg the angle of entry of the bullet(s). Such details are very critical. If not for these post-mortem reports, the police would have been cleared by the police. That is why the IPCMC is very much needed.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.