PRM president Dr Syed Husin Ali has challenged Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and several newspaper editors to prove that he had accused the police of causing the death of 200 detainees without valid reasons over the past three years.

Syed Husin said that he considered the comments made by Abdullah, which was reported yesterday in Malay dailies Mingguan Malaysia , Berita Minggu and English daily The Sun to be "slanderous".

He added that the reports also contained "threats" by Abdullah, who wanted the police to investigate the matter and perhaps take action against him (Syed Husin).

"I challenge Abdullah and the editors of the dailies to prove that I have made such accusations," said the veteran politician in a statement today.

He said that he was seeking advice from lawyers on whether to take legal action against his accusers.

Yesterday, Mingguan Malaysia and The Sun reported that Syed Husin said "the police had caused the death of some 200 people without valid reasons".

Meanwhile, Berita Minggu quoted Syed Husin - in a report in opposition party Keadilan's website - as saying that "approximately 300 people had died in police detention without valid reasons within these past two years".

Abdullah, who is also home minister, was subsequently asked to comment on the matter on Saturday during a function, and he was reported to have accused Syed Husin for making a "wild accusation".

"We do not know what is the basis for such accusation. The police must look into this and take action if necessary," The Sun quoted Abdullah as saying.

Trigger-happy police

According to the PRM leader, he did touch on the issue of trigger-happy police in an Aug 23 press statement which reminded Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad that during the past three years "police have shot to death about 200 persons, merely on suspicion or information that they were criminals".

"Is that not brutal, especially when many of them would not have been given death sentences if they were arrested and brought to court?" he asked.

He said his statement was based on statistics provided by the authorities and that the 200, instead of being arrested, were shot dead by the police.

Syed Husin added that he did not say that 200 people had died in police detention as reported by Berita Minggu .

The opposition leader was then commenting on Mahathir's displeasure at the Human Rights Commission, or Suhakam, for reporting that police had been violent during the peaceful gathering along the Kesas highway on Nov 5 last year.

Suhakam launched a four-month long inquiry into the gathering after several participants complained of police brutality.

After hearing the testimonies of 46 witnesses, including participants, police and doctors, Suhakam found the police had committed human rights violations.

This prompted Mahathir to lambast the commission for producing a report which he deemed to be "Western influenced".

1.3 persons shot dead a week

In October last year, Parti Rakyat Insan Malaysia handed a memorandum to Mahathir lamenting that an average of 1.3 persons was shot dead by the police every week.

The statistic was based on a statement made by the then deputy home minister, Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir, that over the past 10 years, a total of 635 people were killed as a result of being shot by the police, out of which 355 were locals.

The minister, who was answering a question in parliament in May last year, also said that the police could only open fire if their lives were in danger and to protect themselves.

The memorandum, which detailed cases of deaths caused by police shooting, called for a royal commission to examine the issue.