PRESS STATEMENT
Date : 22th Jan 2009
I strongly denounce the action of the police officers who were involved in beating up Kugan Ananthan, resulting in his death. It is disturbing to note such barbaric behaviour among some members of the police force.
But what is even more shocking is the fairy tale spun by Selangor police chief Khalid Abu Bakar who has been reported saying Kugan had died of breathing difficulties.
Khalid should be ashamed of himself for trying to protect his officers who had caused grievous bodily harm to the 23-year-old man.
I watched the video recording of Kugan taken at the mortuary. The footage revealed severe marks on his body, deep cuts on his wrists and bruises on his legs. Blood was oozing from his nose.
Kugan was held under a two-week remand to facilitate police investigations linking him to several car theft cases. The job of the police is clearly to find enough evidence to charge him in court. It was not to beat him to death.
This is not the first time we are witnessing abuse of detainees or custodial deaths. Human rights lawyers, civil rights activists and members of non-governmental organisations have highlighted cases of police abuse in the past. But there has been no concerted action taken by the government or police.
According to statistics revealed in Parliament last year, there were a total of 1535 custodial deaths in the country between 2003 and 2007.
However, the lack of action by the government to punish errant police officers only goes to show the disturbingly close link between the government and the force.
The nation was shocked when reports of police personnel abusing and pouring hot water on carpark attendant B.Prabakar surfaced. But the fact that the incident and public outcry did not stop other officers from abusing Kugan only goes to show the leverage of power enjoyed by the police force in Malaysia.
But such audacity and blatant disregard for the law displayed by the police force has to stop. I strongly urge the Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar and police chief Musa Hassan to initiate a thorough investigation into the custodial death of Kugan and take serious action against the police officers who had abused him.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi must also issue a serious warning to the police force to stop abusing its powers to prevent custodial deaths in the future. In fact, the IPCMC is relevant now more then ever.
Charles Santiago
Member of Parliament, Klang
016-6267797
22 January, 2009 at 2:02 pm
The culprits must be punished !!
22 January, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Death in a police custody is a horrible news. The death in police custody is commonly happens on Indians. This can be classified as a genocidal killings in Malaysia. What is bloody Umno is doing after so many cases happenning towards Indians? Let’s all gather in one hand and defeat Umno in upcoming election.
22 January, 2009 at 2:41 pm
medical officers claim that the wounds were inflicted by family members?
this person must be a moron ; someone has put words into his F..king mouth.
this act is worst than what we saw in Gaza ..
22 January, 2009 at 5:13 pm
It is a sad & shameful day for all Malaysians, young and old.
When the international community including Malaysians, cried for Abu Ghraib scandal, and cursed the perpetrators of the crime, the same thing is happening very much in our own Malaysian police backyards. The PDRM are no different but the same crime perpetrators – they committed brutal barbaric murder to our own youth detainees.
Why are the police force so cruel? DO they still have a human soul left in them? Is they such a word called human compassion? Are they still humans or are they animals who are trained to hurt, torture or do horrendous acts to inflict so much pain to another human just because the detainees are helpless at their poor mercy. In my mind, these barbaric acts of torture are insane and the murderers definitely need some psychiatric attention. Or are they under the influence of drugs when such acts are committed?
what else to say.. Shame to IGB Musa, Shame to Khalid, Shame to Umno leader Pak Lah, Shame to Syed Hamid, Shame to Najis, Shame to the bloodied hands of those that have contributed to the death of the poor little soul.
May Kugan’s soul rest in perfect peace! The peace that is so deservedly yours.
22 January, 2009 at 6:46 pm
YB CHARLES,
I saw the captures of the detainee kugan in makkal.org,its horrible.There are bruises over the knees which indicates,the victim was kneel down or hit with blunt object.
The wrist shows some injuries which i believe the victim struggle with hand cuff or he was dragged with the cuff.
The wound in the neck(AROUNDED)indicates the victim been strangulated with rope from front and behind.
Thre is no fresh bleeding from the nostrils which shows the person was dead <12HOURS.The wounds over the BODY is not a fresh wound which i believe caused by blunt object like screw driver hence how can the chief of selangor terrorist dept claims was tempered by the people who barged into the mortuory.
The chief claims there is fliud in the lungs which either could be due infections or internal organ injury.Were there any independent forensic expert during the post mortem?
IN CONCLUSIONS THE WHOLE POST MORTEM REPORT WILL BE FABRICATED TO THE TUNE OF THE CHIEF.MY REPORT IN THIS IS;THE DEATH IS NOT DUE TO THE ASTHMATIC ATTACK BUT INTERNAL INJURY.
22 January, 2009 at 9:58 pm
Chances are they will do their utmost to protect their people and nothing will come out of this. If the public protest and have demonstrations, you can be sure water cannons and a lot of other things will come down on the demonstrators, they will be haul to court for illegal assembly and charged. Remember, this is Bolehland
22 January, 2009 at 11:03 pm
Special Commission should be set up to investigate and bring the ‘animals’to justice.Sorry to say this is the result of giving BN too much power and too long in power, we have to STOP this.
24 January, 2009 at 9:07 am
Dear YB,
First, request for a Independent inquiry consisting of pathologist, forensic and
well versed layers to conduct a through investigation.
Second, the OCPD, Investigation Officer, his assistant and the rest of the blue uniformed animals are to be suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.
Third, the Doctor who issued the false Certificate of Death should be referred M/Medical Council to disciplinary action.
Fourth, ensure that Late Kugan’s case does not head the direction of Altantuya’s murder case.
The decay in this country is from the top to bottom level of governance and administration. More often it run along racial lines.
It is a believe among certain credible Blogger s that vengeance was meted due to BN lose in KY by elections. The Chinese admitted that they vote for BN fearing reprisals.
There is another disgusting case of MAS flight from Bangladesh to KL. A pax refused to sit with a elderly Hindu lady! and he was creating a commotion and the crew literally supported this pax. By international Aviation law, any pax treating the safety of the flight or other passengers, he should be refused carriage while aircraft on ground and in flight, he must be restrained and the destination tower notified. Guess what happened? At KLIA he walked out a free man like other passengers. This is the sorry state of this beloved country!
27 January, 2009 at 7:04 am
justice 4 kugan
postpone his funeral to the eve of thaipusam sat 7th feb 2009
THEN,we will get our ipcmc after all
ANWAR n PAKATAN RAKYAT, u r our only hope
28 January, 2009 at 6:59 am
[...] custodial deaths in 5 years According to Charles Santiago HERE (thanks to Gadfly for the link): According to statistics revealed in Parliament last year, there [...]
29 January, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Charles, I appreciate if you could confirm the figures you quoted of custodial deaths of 1,535 by citing authoritative sources. There are some secondary sources floating around that give much much lower figures. Thanks.