If Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's decision to establish an independent investigation on police brutality, poor service, corruption and other negative traits on the police force was made more than seven years ago, accusations would have been pelted upon him for deliberately creating a bad image of the police force and endangering national security. He may have even been labeled a Marxist, and a stooge for foreign agencies.

For these were the very accusations leveled at nine organisations who set out to organise a Peoples Tribunal or Tribunal Rakyat on Dec 15, 1996 to discuss the very issues of police conduct that have been now pertinently raised. The accusations leveled against the NGOs at the time were made by none other than former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, former deputy home ministers Megat Junid and Ong Ka Ting and former inspector-general of police Abdul Rahim Noor.

The nine organisations, Suaram, Aliran, Bar Council, Centre for Orang Asli Concerns, Community Development Centre, DAP Socialist Youth, Jawatankuasa Sokongan Peneroka Bandar, Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall Youth Section and Tenaganita had little choice but to call off the event when they were warned with the dreadful prospects of being arrested under the ISA, together with anyone who attended the event.

Double standards

The same media today, who gave front-page coverage for the setting up of the royal commission, joined the bandwagon then and rained scathing remarks on the organisers calling them anti-national and subversive. The government in no uncertain terms did everything to undermine the call for a tribunal to discuss police conduct. It continues to baffle us how an indoor open public activity was taken to be a threat to national security.

The tribunal organisers boldly attempted to keep the momentum going and wrote in officially for a dialogue with the police. This was in fact a suggestion made by Ong to the NGOs. The attempt to seek a dialogue was a very frustrating and tiring one. On Oct 2, 1997, after more than 10 months, and with several pre-conditions set by the police, a dialogue was finally held. Thirty-three NGO representatives from nine organisations attended the meeting while the police team was led by the then director of criminal investigation Ismail Che Ros.

At the dialogue, the NGOs submitted a seven-page memorandum highlighting seven main issues

i) Issues of conflict of interest within the police force

ii) Harsh treatment meted out on communities when lodging police reports

iii) Those who make complaints gets investigated rather than the complaints itself

iv) The abuse of Section 117 - used with punitive intentions

v) Lock-up conditions

vi) The use and misuse of Federal Reserve Units especially on vulnerable groups.

vii) Complaints against police officers not getting resolved.

In our memorandum, we further raised several recommendations to be considered. The police responded through a letter dated Jan 21, 1998 (see chart).

A follow-up meeting was agreed, but until today there has been no initiative on the part of the police to continue with the dialogue.

It is with deep regret that most of these views fell on deaf ears. However, several issues over the last few years continued to keep the police in the spotlight.

Among some major events include:

1) In 1995, the killing of an air-con technician, Lee Quat Leong under police custody put the issue of police conduct back in the spotlight. Opposition leader Lim Kit Sang tried to adjourn the Parliament house for the purpose of discussing an urgent public importance matter involving police officers and the government under Article 18(1). Lim raised the issue of the death of Lee in police lock-up on May 12.

2) Barely a day after that, on Oct 16, the Star published the findings of its survey. The article was titled, 'Red marks for the men in blue'. According to the survey carried out over 400 letters were written by the public. The survey showed 94.7 percent of the respondents suggested the police needed a revamp. On the same day, contradicting this, the deputy inspector-general of police Samsuri Arshad claimed that public confidence in and recognition of the police had risen following the force's numerous successes over the years. The then IGP Rahim Noor responded by stating that the police force will conduct its own survey. Some time later, the police came out with its own survey which said that the public have full confidence in the police force.

3) Just less than nine months after the police dialogue following the failure of the public tribunal, the police were back in the spotlight again. This time, the highest ranking police officer in the country, Rahim Noor was found to have punched and beaten the just sacked deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim resulting in serious bodily injuries. The IGP broke every rule and indulged himself to criminal assault of the worst kind. Regretfully Mahathir, the then prime minister and home minister, suggested that the injury could be self-inflicted.

If not for the strong criticism by human rights groups and months of tireless street protests by Anwar supporters, we would not have seen justice and Rahim Noor brought to the dock. The royal commission found Rahim Noor culpable in the beating and recommended that he be prosecuted. The Anwar "black eye" incident and the massive use of violence on peaceful demonstrations, unwarranted arrests and assaults by the police were broadly broadcasted in international media, news wires and many websites.

4) The police image further deteriorated especially among the Malaysian Indian ethnic group, when 11 people were shot dead within two days. Among the dead were several Rela members who happen to be members of MIC. The most shocking was the killing of a nine-month pregnant woman, N Selvamalar. This resulted in a memorandum submitted to the prime minister by 61 NGOs on Oct 14, 1998. The NGOs demanded five things - an independent commission to investigate the killings, calling on the government to direct the police to stop this act of killing which is contrary to the laws and the constitution, calling for new laws which will enable independent neutral investigations on police conduct, the abolishment of all laws contrary to human rights and the ratification of all international human rights conventions.

5) With so much gone awry with the police force, the police made quite a turnaround and launched a propaganda move, introducing the word mesra (friendly) during the police day celebrations on March 25, 1999. The mesra campaign included several directives - each police officer was told to wear a mesra badge on the left pocket, car stickers with the word mesra were distributed to policemen to remind them of their new conduct. Among others, the police were told to be friendly and polite, not raise their voices, smile, and demonstrate calmness, avoid quarrels and above all listen to the people.

Barely three weeks after the launch of mesra , thousands of peaceful protesters were beaten up by police using truncheons, tear gas and water cannons in dispersing crowds. Throughout the year, police used similar 'un-mesra' methods to disperse peaceful gatherings. Police were seen in civilian clothes provoking demonstrators. Hundreds of demonstrators have been detained amid reports of ill-treatment during arrests or after being taken to the lock-up.

6) A 29-year-old doctor was shot dead in his car. This incident created massive public outcry. It was reported that 387 people were killed between 1994 and October 1999.

7) Home Ministry figures claim that 425 persons had died under police custody during their incarceration between 2002 and July 2003. Parliamentary statistics reveal that 237 prison inmates died in 2002, which averages about 19.75 deaths a month.

Mammoth gathering

In the year 2000, NGOs and civil rights groups started to work with the newly formed Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam). There was now some relief that another avenue to make complaints and reports had become available. Many NGOs having had extreme difficulty in dealing with police brutality issues, took up their issues to the commission.

Public interest groups also started taking on roles to monitor the police during public assemblies. Two groups - Peoples Manifesto Initiative, a coalition of 12 NGOs and the KL Bar Council Legal Aid Centre conducted monitoring missions during demonstrations on Anwar's judgment day gathering. Suhakam carried out its very first public assembly monitoring on Aug 8 that year.

On Nov 2, Party Reformasi Insan Malaysia (Prim) submitted 638 cases of police killings over the last 10 years to Suhakam.

Standing out amongst many other demonstrations was a massive gathering at Jalan Kebun which led to harsh police actions, with more than 120 people arrested, tear gassed and beaten. A massive outpouring of anger and culminated in the first public inquiry by Suhakam. Among the injuries suffered were broken ribs, deep lacerations, head trauma, bleeding and swelling. The event later known as the '100,000 Kesas Highway' gathering became an important landmark case as it led to Suhakam spelling out important reforms for the police force.

Regretfully, the police tried to sabotage the Suhakam inquiry by charging those detained. Suhakam had also admitted that the complaints against police rank the highest among the complaints received by the commission. The Suhakam commissioners who bravely conducted the inquiry were Anuar Zainal Abidin, Mehrun Siraj and Simon Sipaun. They released strong recommendations for police reform and concluded that the police violated several aspects of human rights. Suhakam also made strong recommendations on public assemblies.

The prime minister then dismissed the report stating that "Suhakam can suggest but it does not mean the government should follow". He also stated that Suhakam is not interested in national security. Unfortunately, two out of the three commissioners who undertook the task of the Kesas Inquiry were removed from the commission and their tenure was not extended.

Police confidence continued to deteriorate in the wake of numerous deaths in custody issues raised by the Police Watch and Human Rights Committee in 2002. Police official record claims that one person die in police custody every two weeks. This is an alarming situation.

In 2002, Suaram initiated another mobilisation among NGOs and political parties and called on the IGP for a meeting to discuss the issue of death in police custody and police shooting. Another mobilisation was also done at the chief justice office, which later resulted in two inquests being called. The Police Watch and Human Rights Committee continued to file case after case against the police.

A major setback for the police came from the Federal Court's Internal Security Act (ISA) judgement on Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor and four others on Sept 6, 2002. The Federal Court found the detention was mala-fid e and pin pointed that the initial period of detention under Section 73 of the ISA was done in bad faith. It is the police who were responsible at this stage. The court also found that the actual reason for the detention was information gathering.

The last two years saw, numerous matters of police inaction on violence against women as well as death in custody being given significant coverage especially by tabloids like the Malay Mail . The recent shooting of a Form Six student has also created a huge public outcry.

On Nov 1 last year, Suaram and Amnesty International organised a conference on torture. Ironically almost all issues raised by panelists on the issue was attributed to the police. At the conference which discussed issues of torture by ISA victims, members of public assemblies, migrant workers, refugees and victims of police custody, the police were the offenders.

The use of torture by police especially the Special Branch during the first 60 days was evident in almost all ISA arrests since the 1960s. Torture methods has been both psychological as well as physical. Lawyer and activist P Uthayakumar also graphically explained the various cases of death in custody and police shootings. On the issue of criminal investigations and torture of suspects, he said the police are viewed with the most brutal and ruthless track records.