You are wrong Datuk Seri Syed Hamid

Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar's statement below is unwarranted and a shallow. As a former lawyer he should very well know that all suspects are innocent until proven guilty. The burden of proof is not on them. More so if the prosecution alleged that a criminal situation had taken place, proved it. He who alleged MUST prove that is the basis of our criminal justice system.

As such Kugan's death or any other person detained and died during detention is nothing short but criminal wrong committed by the police. So should the police be seen as a hero in allowing brutality in their own back yard? I don't think so.

The public such as I includeed, am not happy with the attitude and the conduct of some police officers in taking the law into their own hand. Why can't they just follow procedures as laid down under the law.

I am reminded the cases in UK such as Birmingham Six or Maguire Seven or Guilford Four where the it caused the Home Secretary to set up a Royal Commission on Criminal Justice in 1991 which led to the Criminal Appeal Act of 1995 and the establishment of the Criminal Cases Review Commission in 1997.

So like our country, there is a need to form such commission to correct and strengthen the reputation of the police force. Those who are involved in the beating of detainees (or any wrong doing) should be terminated and charged by the court of law. There should not be any cover ups and due compensation should be given to the family of the loss.

I am sure Kugan and the others that have died prematurely including their family are not seeking for glory or being called a HERO but merely seeking that JUSTICE prevailed.


----- Taken from The Malaysian Insider

PUTRAJAYA, Jan 28 — The people should not regard criminals as heroes and the police who enforce the law as demons, Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said today.

Speaking in general terms, he said no one was above the law and added that action would be taken against those who broke the law, even if it was the police.

“We will not conceal the facts,” he told reporters at his office here.

Syed Hamid said he was not linking his statement, made in general terms, with the death of car theft suspect A. Kugan who had died while in police custody at the Taipan police station in Subang Jaya on Jan 20.

“I am not pinpointing anybody,” the minister stressed.

He explained that police had detained three suspects including Kugan following investigations into 19 cases of vehicle theft and armed robbery.

The minister also asked the people not to politicise the investigation into Kugan’s death, saying it would make the police task more difficult.

“They must talk of the case based on facts and not assumptions,” he said.

Kugan, 22, who was detained on Jan 15 at the Taipan police station on suspicion of being involved in the theft of luxury cars in Sungai Chua, Kajang, had died while being questioned.

Selangor police chief Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar had said a post-mortem found that Kugan had died due to fluid in his lungs but Kugan’s family sought a second post mortem, insisting that Kugan had died of injuries.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said later that Kugan’s death had been classified as murder. A second post-mortem on Kugan has been done since.

The police are investigating Kugan’s death and the results are expected to be known soon.

Kugan’s funeral was held today. — Bernama