We
are shocked that the Federal CID Director Comm. Datuk Fauzi Shaari has
defended the action of police in giving crew-cuts to arrested persons
detained at police station lock-ups. It must be remembered that persons
detained at police lock-ups are mere suspects pending investigation.
Many a time arrested persons are released in a couple of hours or days
after police investigations show that they are not involved in the crime
they are suspected to have committed.In his statement reported in the
Star (9/4/2005), Datuk Fauzi Shaari absurdly claims that the crew-cuts
are necessary for hygiene and discipline reasons. In
claiming that the crew-cuts are necessary for discipline reasons, Datok
Fauzi Shaari clearly exhibits the police department’s inveterate
inability to understand that arrested persons are not convicts and are
innocent until proven guilty. The police have no right to humiliate
arrested persons in this manner in order to impose discipline.
It is not the task of the police department to teach discipline
to the Malaysian public. It
is time the police realize that in this country arrested persons cannot
be treated as if they were inmates of notorious penal institutions such
as Chekhov’s Island of Sakhalin or the Gulag Archipelago or Devil’s
Island. This seems obvious to everyone except the police department who
appear to think that it is permissible to treat arrested suspects as if
they were hardened convicts. As
regard Datok Fauzi’s claim that crew-cuts are necessary for hygiene
purposes, we take this as an admission that police lock-ups are
unhygienic places. It is undeniable that lock-ups in Malaysia are
generally smelly, dirty, over-crowded
and lacking
adequate toilet and bathroom facilities.
The police department ought to take the initiative to improve
conditions instead of giving
crew-cuts to detainees In
addition, the time of the police department is better spent
investigating and solving crimes instead of posing as ‘barbers’ to
arrested persons. It
is unacceptable that the Federal CID Chief should think that he has the
right to treat Malaysians in this manner and for these reasons. We
demand that the practice of giving hair-cuts to arrested persons
immediately cease as it is humiliating and is an affront to human
dignity. N.
Surendran Charles
Hector for Malaysians Against Death Penalty and
Torture (MADPET) 9th April 2005 Kuala
Lumpur Note:
For further information, kindly contact chef@tm.net.my
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