DAP national vice-chairperson M Kulasegaran today welcomed the statement of deputy minister P Waythamoorthy in urging the suspension of police personnel involved in the three custodial deaths that have roiled police-public ties in the last fortnight.

"I don't believe in being a carping critic, which is why I welcome the statement the Malaysian Hindraf Association leader has made in relation to the recent deaths of three suspects in police custody," said the MP for Ipoh Barat.

NONE Kulasegaran said this in response to Waythamoorthy's urging to the police top brass for a punitive response to possibly errant personnel in connection with the cases.

"I urge Waytha to go even further, by calling for the arrests of police personnel involved in the killing of Dhamendran," said Kulasegaran.

N Dhamendran, 31, died in a Kuala Lumpur police headquarters lock-up on May 21, the apparent victim of brutality inflicted while he was in custody.

The deaths of J Jamesh Ramesh, 40, in a Penang police lock-up on May 26 and of P Karuna Nithi, 32, in a Tampin station last Saturday also highlighted grave flaws in police handling of suspects, even if not as searing as in the Dhamendran case.

"Waytha's urging that there should be no double standards between ordinary suspects and police personnel when it comes to the interdiction of those responsible for homicide cases is laudable," commented Kulasegaran.

Plan hawked to Pakatan as well

The DAP federal legislator has been sharply critical of Waythamoorthy, the Malaysia Hindraf Association leader, after the latter was appointed a deputy minister by Prime Miniser Najib Abdul Razak last month.

Waythamoorthy ran into stinging criticism following the association's decision to ink a deal with Najib days before the general election on May 5.

In return for the group's electoral support for the BN, Najib committed his coalition to action on four of the six points of its programme for the upliftment of the Indian poor.

The group had hawked the plan to Pakatan Rakyat as well, but talks between the two parties meandered without conclusion.

BN stepped into the breach and inked a deal with the Malaysian Hindraf Association, which led Waythamoorthy to controversially call for Indian Malaysian support for the retention of BN in power with a two-thirds majority in Parliament.

The group's consent to the shedding of two points, one a demand for an end to custodial deaths and two, an end to institutional racism, were looked in askance by opposition critics of the BN-Malaysian Hindraf Association deal.

An unflustered Waythamoorthy proceeded to take his place in Najib's ministerial ranks before a slew of custodial deaths, beginning with Dhamendran's, which placed him and the association's dropping of the two demands in the eye of a maelstrom.

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