A report prepared by the police on the recent Petaling Jaya Selatan clashes which resulted in six deaths will be released to the public and used as a foundation for the police to avoid future racial clashes, said Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today.

"(However) I don't know when the report will be made public," Abdullah told journalists today after officiating the launching of housing quarters for police officers in Pantai Dalam, Kuala Lumpur.

He said that he had only heard bits and pieces of the report from officers from the police headquarters in Bukit Aman.

"If a full report is submitted early, it will be used as a basis by the police and the Home Affairs Ministry to counter and avoid similar incidents in the future," said Abdullah, who is also the Home Minister.

He said that the report will give an opportunity for the police to study and understand better as to what happened in the Petaling Jaya Selatan area where clashes for four days beginning March 8 also resulted in about 50 people being injured.

About 600 police personnel are still stationed at the affected areas to maintain peace and order.

Post-mortem

"From the report, we can do a post-mortem to know our weaknesses in handling the situation and what are our shortcomings, especially in handling public relations and the press," he said.

He added that the lessons learnt in this incident will be useful to the young police officers.

The deputy prime minister lamented that the lessons that the police force has learnt from the May 13, 1969, racial riots were lost on the young officers.

"The senior officers from that era have long retired and the young officers now have to learn from this experience and respond faster in the future."

He added that it was the old wise heads in the force who had responded reasonably in handling the clashes in Petaling Jaya Selatan by ordering the affected areas to be cordoned off.

"We cordoned the area off and we did not allow the press to come in until they (the press) were ready. We did not want the press to be reporting what the ordinary man would say. The ordinary man might not really know what had happened so when the press report such things, it is helping to report rumours."

Probe on opposition leaders

As to when the police presence in the affected areas be reduced, Abdullah said the situation will be assessed continually.

"We cannot tell you when that (the reduction in police presence) will happen," he said.

He also said that the police were still investigating opposition leaders over alleged statements that the death toll from the tragedy could be higher.

Police took statements from Keadilan leader Dr Wan Azizah Ismail, PRM president Dr Syed Husin Ali and DAP secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock over their press statement on the number of deaths as a result of the violent clashes.

On the recent incident of police abuse on printing company managing director Tan Kam Hing, 67, Inspector General of Police Norian Mai, who was also present at the press conference, said the matter was subject to investigation to verify the claims made by Tan.

Tan has alleged that he was abused by the police early this week, resulting in a bruised eye, after he had gone to lodge a report over his missing car.

His son, Yeat Ming, said his father was assaulted by three police personnel when he headed towards the police quarters to knock on some doors because he was unsure of where to lodge a police report.

Tan also said that he was manhandled by three police personnel who also beat him up before and after he was handcuffed, and one of them punched him in the eye.

The police said that Tan was drunk, uncontrollable and had created a commotion in the compound. They said he injured himself when he smashed his head against a window. Tan's car was also found parked near a pub.

Yesterday, city crime chief Mat Zain Ibrahim said Norian had asked him to investigate the matter.

Higher success rate

Earlier in his speech, Abdullah said the government aimed to provide housing for 90 percent of the 83,353 police personnel under the Eighth Malaysia Plan. He added that under the plan, the government has allocated RM2 billion for this purpose.

He added that the police also achieved a high rate of 32.4 percent success in solving criminal cases. This rate, he said, was higher than the 20 percent level set by the Interpol as a normal success rate.

"This year, the force is aiming to solve 35 percent of the reported cases," he said.

He said that the police force was now also burdened with solving problems created by street demonstrators.