I’ve waited for a while to write on this in the hopes that a copy of the video would be made online, but still no signs.
Some of the most troubling bits come from Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Mohd Johari Baharom. Quotes from a NST article:
Meanwhile, in Putrajaya, Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Mohd Johari Baharom, said use of handphones in “sensitive” areas such as police lock-ups will be limited.
This was to prevent “irresponsible quarters” from videotaping incidences in such places.
“The ministry will study the appropriateness of using handphones in sensitive spots like lock-ups,” he said after the ministry’s monthly gathering here.
I fail to see how Datuk is promoting the public good here. Once again, whistleblowers – the real guardians of society at present – are being punished instead of rewarded. I for one am glad that this video got out; if not, won’t the police feel free to continue doing whatever they like to individuals in custody?
Without the IPCMC (which kononnya is languishing in the AG’s chambers), if videos like this are all that will make the police think twice about being brutes, then there should be more handphones in sensitive places. There’s all this talk about CCTV’s to prevent crime – let’s have some in police stations too then! Nothing to hide, right?
Datuk’s comments sadly suggest that he may be more interested in covering up offences rather than addressing them.
The NST also carried an article on a man who said he was robbed by the two victims in the video, and that they deserved the treatment they got for their brutality towards him.
If the man’s description of the robbery was true, I truly sympathise :( But whatever their crimes, if we treat them with vicious degradation, what is it that separates us from them? Do we not become the monsters we decry them to be?
Suaram and Amnesty International Malaysia have come out strongly against the incident, both linking it to calls for the IPCMC. Naturally, only malaysiakini covers their statements.
If you’re not too familiar with the incidents, see some earlier articles in the Star and the NST.
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