Thank you to all of you who read my letter headlined ‘What was a 14-year-old boy doing driving a car at past midnight’. In it, I raised the concern of a minor driving a car unlawfully, wondering whether his family was aware of his movements.

Readers were upset because they believe the police ‘deliberately’ shot dead the youngster, Aminulrasyid Amzah, so much so that it made them oblivious to the points I made in the letter.

I directed pertinent questions to the dead boy’s mother about why he was out past midnight in the first place and driving a car. I did not condemn Aminulrasyid or say he deserved to be shot - in fact, I said there is no justification for the police to have gunned down the boy.

As for the alleged discovery of a machete in the car, in no way did my letter imply that the boy carried one. Instead, I asked: ‘Why was there a machete in the car’s boot, if indeed there was one?’

The intention of the letter was to alert parents to their children’s whereabouts but it appears that my concern did not go down well with readers. Almost all who responded are out for police blood for killing a child. What the boy did has become irrelevant. What if he had run over someone and killed the person? What would the public outcry be like then?

To the few who understood my point, thank you. I take no sides, neither that of the dead boy nor the police.

What transpired that night between the police and Aminulrasyid is still unclear, but what is certain is that the police need be wary of a public that no longer tolerates abuse of power.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak says he wants the investigations to handled in an open and transparent manner.

If Najib is sincere about his ‘1Malaysia’ slogan ‘People first, performance now’, he must make every effort to clean up the police force from the top down.

Take the people’s complaints against the police with utmost seriousness. Playing politics to save the skin of some top cop will not do.

There are members of the police force who are undeniably mentally suspect and need to be removed. The force is no place for psychos, trigger-happy cops and those who have no respect for human life.

The powers- that- be will always play to the gallery to serve their own interest, but neither the police nor the government can afford to take the rakyat for granted any more.