Police Brutality in Malaysia; Block in the Road of Humanity
The police are entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining peace, ensuring the people’s safety and to enforce the law. Police are held…
The police are entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining peace, ensuring the people’s safety and to enforce the law. Police are held to a higher standard because of their responsibility. Yet in recent months, cases of police brutality have come under the spotlight, both internationally and in Malaysia. The term brutality stands for any physical or psychological harm done to a person. That being said, what is police brutality? If you relate back to what brutality stands for, it is when any police officer uses excessive and unnecessary force in any situation, it can be accounted as police brutality.
Police brutality is occurring in many countries, including developed countries as well. It is a matter of regret that Malaysia is no different when it comes to police brutality. Malaysia, like the rest of the world, has been battling COVID-19 since 2020, but in parallel, there is another battle — against police brutality. At the same time when many Malaysians stood in solidarity with the Americans for the Black Lives Matter movement, violence against Malaysians by the police was happening in our own country. Malaysia must confront their own baggage of police violence, a serious violation of human rights which should not go unpunished. Many Malaysians appear to be unaware of such concerns occurring in their own backyard, hence it is vital to have discussions regarding the country’s own law enforcement.
The victim, if not dead, suffers for the rest of their life. There are multiple alleged horrifying cases of police brutality in Malaysia. S. Mahendran, a 30-year-old Indian-Malaysian man was arrested and placed under police custody on suspicion of armed robbery. Mahendran said he was assaulted and tortured by police officers rubbing his genitals with chili paste. He was also stripped naked and forced to lay on ice cubes. He received threats against his daughter and mother. Luckily Mahendran survived, but there are many more unreported cases where people have died in police custody.
S. Balamurugan was arrested back in 2017 and died in police custody after he was “slapped in the face and assaulted in the chest during questioning” at the police station. While in custody, his relatives could hear him cry in pain. The magistrate sent Balamurugan to the hospital during his remand hearing, citing his ailments and deficiencies. Balamurugan was instead sent back to the police station, where he received no medical attention. The recent case of A. Ganapathy, a cow milk trader, sparked national outcry when the man died, possibly as a result of abuse while under the custody of the Gombak police station.
Racism in the police force, true or false?
Reports disagree with each other about whether the police are actually targeting only Indians. Official figures say that the majority victims are Malay, at 54.8% and Indian victims make up 23.4%. In the media, Indian Malaysians are often portrayed as the most vulnerable to death whilst in police detention. However it is important to note that Indians are disproportionately represented in such deaths. While the Indian Malaysians make up 6.4% of the population, they make up almost a quarter of deaths related to the police.
The supposed underreporting of death of Malays in police custody has also gone unnoticed. According to official information presented by the Home Ministry, there were 257 deaths in police custody between 2002 and 2016. Only 62 of these cases were reported on by the media. Since most cases reported by the media involved Indian Malaysians, it formed the misconception that the police were racially targeting Indians. Although the majority of the victims are Malay and Indians, it shouldn’t be chalked up to solely being a racial issue, but as a societal problem involving the violation of human rights.
Deaths in Police Custody by Ethnicity
Right now, only the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) is active and responsible for all enforcement officials, including those from the Immigration Department, the Labour Department, and others. However, because its powers are limited to investigating cases and conducting investigations, the organisation can only make recommendations as to what action should be taken. As a result, the suitable disciplinary action might not be taken and officials are not held accountable. Hence, in order to better regulate the police force and prevent further cases of police brutality, the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) needs to be established.
What is IPCMC?
The IPCMC would be an independent organization tasked with investigating complaints of police abuse of authority and enforcing appropriate disciplinary measures against errant officers. Proper inspection of police officers will foster a sense of police accountability as well as increased transparency within the department. One of the many promises made by the Pakatan Harapan government was to implement the IPCMC, and it was not fulfilled. The question now is why has IPCMC not been established yet, and when it will actually be implemented? Since Malaysia is going through a pandemic, and eradicating the virus is the government’s top priority now, any discussions about IPCMC have been largely ignored. However, many human rights groups are pressuring the government to implement the IPCMC as soon as possible.
A petition on Change.org, titled “PDRM Gagal, IPCMC Now: End police brutality and misconduct in Malaysia”, garnered 24,497 signatures and was addressed to the Home Affairs Ministry and its minister, Hamzah Zainudin. IPCMC needs to be established right now to make the police force and its officers responsible for their actions. If no independent body like IPCMC is established to hold the police accountable for their crimes, the never-ending struggle against police brutality will erupt: a pandemic within a pandemic. Police brutality in Malaysia would grow into a permanent societal illness if no prompt action is taken, with more lives lost at the hands of the police and zero accountability. This violation of human rights needs to stop; the people of Malaysia deserve to live without fear of the very people meant to protect and serve.
[Written by: Ramisa Nuzhat]