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Media  Statement

by Lim Kit Siang  
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(Petaling Jaya, Sunday): Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Musa Hassan has dropped a bombshell when he exonerated  the policewoman in the  Petaling Jaya district headquarters video clip of a naked Chinese woman doing ear squats while in police custody and said: “It is the perpetrator behind the video footage whom we are after and not the policewoman, who was carrying out a routine check.”

In one stroke, Musa has confirmed what the majority of Malaysians have suspected  and feared – firstly,  that the police cannot be trusted as far as investigating crime involving police personnel;  and secondly, the police will deflect attention from the policewoman to the person who took the videotape!

Who conducted the investigation and who exonerated  the policewoman concerned?  When did the Police usurp the powers the Attorney-General whether an offence has been committed?

Musa’s statement is a bombshell as it is  an open police defiance less than 24 hours of the pledge by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak that there would be no cover-up at all.

Abdullah said: “There should be no cover-up at all.  I don’t want anybody to hide the bare facts obtained from the investigations.”

Najib said:  “We do not indulge in that…there is no reason to embarrass and humiliate people in that manner.”

As the New Straits Times headlined on its front-page yesterday, “NAKED ANGER OVER LOCKUP ABUSES – PM and DPM pledge there will be no cover-up”, the nation-wide outrage and demands for action were  focused full and square on the “alleged police mistreatment of a woman from China who was forced to strip and do ear-squats”.

Although the person who did the videotape was also condemned, this was a secondary issue. Now the Police have exonerated  the policewoman of any wrongdoing and shifted complete attention to the “perpetrator” who took the video footage.

If this is not police cover-up, then nobody would know the meaning of a  “cover-up”!

Musa’s statement will raise a tsunami of public disgust, revulsion  and condemnation for three reasons:

• The PJ police videotape clip showing mistreatment of woman detainees is not an isolated case, but the tip of an iceberg reflecting systemic police abuses.
• The victims of such police abuses and mistreatment are not just Chinese nationals, but cover all foreign nationals – as well as Malaysian citizens as well.
• Malaysian  sensitivities and national consensus that the police must respect human rights, decency and dignity when carrying out their duties – which is one of the three principle recommendations of the Police Royal Commission.

Musa Hassan should resign as Deputy IGP for  his bombshell  and insurbodination in openly defying the pledge by PM and DPM of No Cover-Up in the Police Abu Ghraib videotape scandal, challenging the authority and credibility of both the PM and DPM.

The latest development has made it even more urgent that Parliament tomorrow should debate the police Abu Ghraib videotape scandal as a matter of urgent definite public importance.

DAP MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok had given notice to the Speaker, Tan Sri Ramli Ngah on Friday for such a motion, but under the present Standing Orders,  Teresa Kok’s application can only be considered by the Speaker on Tuesday.

This is because of a ridiculous provision in Standing Order 18(2) which provides that notice on a motion of urgent, definite public importance must be given “at least 24 hours not including holidays/public holidays before the commencement of the sitting”, which excludes weekends and public holidays from such a calculcation.

This is a Standing Order for a Lazyman’s Parliament – where the Speaker, Ministers, MPs and government officials should not be disturbed during their weekends or public holidays regardless of what  major or far-reaching events that occur in the interim. This is a disgraceful provision which can have no place in a modern, forward-looking and progressive  Parliament, as it can only give MPs  a bad image as completely out of  touch with real-life developments.

I spoke to the Speaker at his Hari Raya Open House yesterday to inform him that I would be applying  for the suspension of standing orders to allow Teresa Kok’s motion to be considered and debated tomorrow.

            
(27/11/2005)