Newly appointed Suhakam chairperson Abu Talib Othman, in one of his first public functions, today warned the police not to use preventive laws as a short-cut in carrying out their tasks.

"Having been part and parcel of a law enforcement agency myself, I'm aware of the difficulties faced by the police, and that critical situations require critical action," said Abu Talib, who was former attorney-general, now head of the Malaysian Human Rights Commission or Suhakam.

"But there is no vacuum in the law. You should not use preventive laws as a short-cut to resolve crime. It leads to injustice," he added during a question-and-answer session at the opening of the Suhakam workshop for police at the Senior Police Officers Training College here today.

About 300 top police officers, including Inspector-General of Police Norian Mai, attended the opening ceremony before breaking up into groups for the two-day workshop.

Abu Talib was responding to Criminal Investigation Department director Salleh Mat Som's suggestion that preventive laws, such as the Internal Security Act, are needed in cases where prosecution cannot proceed due to technical grounds or insufficient evidence.

Salleh espoused preventive detention as "important to prevent problems like terrorism", and pointed to the shift in stance by the West, in particular the US and Britain, on the use of such preventive laws after the Sept 11 attacks.

That, however, drew a terse response from Abu Talib.

"I ask you now, how would you know whether a person was directly involved in the crime? How did you get the information, by using force? Or was it by using tactics that can force or pressure the person into giving the evidence?

"If you have the evidence, you must charge the suspects. Otherwise, you must release them. If you must detain the person, then where is your evidence against them?"

ISA should be repealed

Fielding questions from the floor with ease of one with a decade-long fluency in the law, the new Suhakam chief who was appointed one month ago went on to reiterate the human rights watchdog's stand that the ISA which allows detention without trial should be repealed in the long run.

In the short term, he said Suhakam will be working on putting in place judicial safeguards in the use of the controversial security law.

Another police officer, who differentiated preventive action such as show of force during mass rallies from preventive detention, said such measures have been effective not only in Malaysia but also other countries.

Abu Talib said that if the police had acted humanely in controlling an unruly crowd, it would then be unfair for the public to criticise the force.

"No one expects the police to be inactive, but that doesn't mean that you take a stick and beat a person or kick him or her, because that goes against the principles of human rights.

"When police use more force than necessary, then it becomes unacceptable," he said, conceding that not everything he had said at the function would be accepted by the police.

Judicial safeguards

Abu Talib said although other countries are following Malaysia's footsteps in considering preventive laws for state security, they have also put in place some protective mechanisms or judicial safeguards.

"No one will be in power for life. What you do now may apply to you later, and it may be too late then to ensure that your rights are well-protected," he warned.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Mohd Jamil Johari also raised several dilemmas faced by the police, including whether protestors who "behave like animals" during mass gatherings deserved to have their rights respected.

"I've been asked by my officers whether people should be given their rights if they begin behaving inhumanely or like animals. Do they then deserve their rights?" he asked.

However, his question was left hanging because Mohd Jamil went on to end the question-and-answer session by thanking Abu Talib for officiating the workshop.

The police have been the object of much criticism from Suhakam over gross human rights violations, including for use of excessive force in crowd dispersal and abuse of power.

Last year, the human rights body in a landmark report lashed out at the police for abusing human rights and pronounced them guilty of brutality during the aborted Nov 5, 2000 mass gathering in the Kesas Highway organised by opposition party Keadilan.