Sixty-year-old homemaker Cheng Pik Wai who claimed she was mocked, stripped naked and lost RM200 while under police detention on March 11 alleged that she was subjected to another round of humiliation by the police on Thursday.

Cheng claimed she was asked a series of questions that were embarrassing and irrelevant to her police report which spelt out her alleged ordeal during detention.

On Thursday evening, a policewoman known only as Sgt Chan recorded her statement at the Jalan HS Lee police station.

A Taiwanese married to a Malaysian engineer, Cheng alleged that Chan was more interested in her personal life than the details of her police report.

Among the questions allegedly asked by Chan were:

How did you meet your husband?

Are you legally married?

How many children do you have?

Do they all have the same father?

Why did you come to Malaysia?

Tell me about your education background?

How old are your parents?

Where did your father die?

"This is ridiculous! Her questions had nothing to do with my complaint against them for stripping me naked. It was as though the police wanted to make a fool out of me," exclaimed Cheng at a press conference today at the DAP Seputeh headquarters in Kuala Lumpur this morning.

Relatives concerned

During the press conference, Cheng was unable to control her emotions and often raised her voice as she recounted her entire ordeal expressing her feeling of humiliation and disgust.

In the Parliament lobby on Thursday afternoon, accompanied by Seputeh MP Teresa Kok, Cheng related to reporters how she was accused of shoplifting at a supermarket which landed in her detention at the same police station.

According to Cheng's police report dated March 29, a policewomen by the name of "Samsiah" had asked her for money and her ATM card pin, while another two policewomen had made her strip naked and turn in full circle three times.

Word of her detention has spread to China, Taiwan and America, where concerned relatives and friends have contacted Cheng to voice their concern.

Identification parade

Yesterday evening, Cheng was asked to participate in an identification parade again at the same station where she positively identified "Samsiah" and one of the two policewomen who asked her to strip naked.

She added that the unidentified policewoman did not raise her head during the whole procedure while Samsiah appeared to be crying.

The police are expected to conclude investigations on Monday and its findings would be forwarded to the public prosecutor.

Kok said that the incident further indicates an immediate need for the implementation of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).

"Such abuses are still happening despite the police top brass having instructed the force to change lock-up procedures. It just shows that their internal disciplinary mechanism does not work," she said.

The police have vehemently opposed the implementation of the IPCMC, which has been recommended by two government-formed commissions relating to the police.

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