Pak Lah vexed by questions on police brutality

comments     Susan Loone     Published     Updated

Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi appeared perturbed by questions from journalists on the recent incident of police brutality where a young man died after he was clobbered twice by an officer with a wooden plank.

The victim, Ramli Othman, 25, died of head injuries last Wednesday, two days after the attack, leaving behind his wife, Siti Rohana Mohammad, 20, and three children, aged between three months and four years.

Asked to comment on the incident at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today, Abdullah — who is also the home minister — replied, "Why do you keep asking about this?"

However, Abdullah stressed that the current training procedures for police recruits was not to be blamed.

"We send everyone to good schools but some turn out to be deviants, others turn out to be philosophers," he said after addressing the Asia-Pacific Roundtable in Kuala Lumpur attended by 247 high-profile government and non-governmental officials today.

Abdullah said the government does not condone police brutality and those found guilty of such acts will be sanctioned accordingly.

Law suit

However, he was unfazed that the family of the victim was planning to sue the government.

"We cannot stop them from suing, but if they do we have to prepare our case," he said.

The victim's family is seeking RM2 million for loss of income, general, exemplary and aggravated damages against the four police officers, the Puchong police chief, inspector general of police Norian Mai and the government for causing Ramli's death.

Ramli, a factory worker, was carrying a friend on a motorbike to a nearby mechanic on that fateful day. Both were not wearing crash helmets, which is an offence.

When they approached a police roadblock at Batu 13 Jalan Puchong near a toll plaza, Ramli made a sudden U-turn.

Two policemen gave chase on foot and one of them swung the plank at the two. The pillion rider ducked and Ramli received the full impact of the blow. He lost control of his motorcycle and crashed.

The pillion driver said that he later saw the police officer hitting Ramli with the wooden plank a second time.

Police chief Norian had said there would be "no bias" in police investigations on the case.

Trigger-happy police

The latest incident adds to the 600-odd people who had died in the hands of the police, a report of which was submitted to the Home Ministry in 2000 by the opposition Parti Reformasi Insan Malaysia.

There was no response to the report, which claimed that police were "trigger happy".

Yesterday, family members of the victim told journalists that they were taking legal action against the police force and the government.

The case is being filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court by DAP legal bureau chief M Manoharan, who will be conducting the case for the family on a pro-bono basis.

Manoharan said that DAP lawyers will also be holding a watching brief when the case is heard in court.

He urged attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail to expedite the action against the four police officers who were directly involved in the incident.

Ramli's father, Othman Hashim, 57, a pensioner, who was at yesterday's press conference said the family was suing the defendants because they did not want others suffering the same fate in the future.

"Just because they are policemen does not mean they can act arbitrarily. If this tragedy happens to you, what will you do?" queried the visibly distraught father, who was accompanied by his wife and two sons.



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