PETALING JAYA: The fatal shooting of four suspected robbers by police in Sungai Buloh last week raises the need for an Independent Police Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), says a DAP leader.
Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy said such a body would ensure that any investigation in the form of an inquest would be impartial.
“I hope that these shootings do not end with the acceptance of the police version of what really transpired on the day. The absence of the IPCMC should not impede impartial investigation on the fatal shootings of the four youths in their 20s.
“Inspector-General of Police Hamid Bador, who earlier approved the implementation of the IPCMC, is rather reticent on the matter. I don’t understand why police have to fear the IPCMC,” he said in a statement today.
According to police, the four refused to stop their car and one of them later came out waving a machete when they opened fire.
Police later claimed the suspects were involved in about 50 robberies in Selangor in December.
Ramasamy said the police force had come a long way and was better educated, more professionally inclined and understood public sentiments on the need for accountability, transparency and the rule of law.
“Given this professionalism, it is not understandable why police are resisting the IPCMC, transparency and higher public accountability.
“Yes, the police under extenuating circumstances must act in self-defence. But I am not sure that in all cases of police shootings resulting in deaths, it was not the imperative of self-defence,” he said.
Ramasamy said if the police force was composed of officers who were well educated and professionally inclined, there was nothing to fear in an open and transparent investigation.
“This is the purpose of the IPCMC. This case and many others in the past raise questions about the conduct of the police force in general.
“It is not that I don’t want to accept the police statement on the matter, an impartial investigation is still needed. This investigation might corroborate the police version or it might not.
“But public interest demands an impartial inquiry. Lack of an independent inquiry has raised questions about the impartiality of police investigation. Lack of witnesses and the fear of coming forward to testify have also hampered investigations.”
Citing another danger in Malaysia that needed attention, Ramasamy said race and religion were almost tied to everything, adding that there was a tendency to associate certain members of an ethnic or social group for having a higher propensity to engage in crime.
“Such a popular perspective devoid of empirical basis must be avoided. Crime knows no race or religion. It is also not exclusively a class phenomenon, but the involvement of the deprived classes is higher.
“From a sociological perspective, crime is the outcome of social, economic and political conditions. It cannot be solved by taking draconian measures like eliminating the suspected criminals.
“In the final analysis, police cannot have multiple roles of prosecuting, defending and deciding,” he said, adding that the order to kill must be last resort.