[Kita lapurkan berita dari pelbagai sumber mengenai lapuran SUHAKAM yang menggemparkan ini. Jangan lupa satu ketika dulu Mahathir menuduh penunjuk perasaan berniat jahat dan ingin menghuru-harakan keadaan. Sekarang SUHAKAM telah membuktikan cakap Mahathir raja kelentong itu omong kosong belaka. Sebaliknya polis didapati bersalah menggunakan kekerasan yang keterlaluan. Malah SUHAKAM menganggap tindakkan polis seperti haiwan (inhuman) (anjing??)

Dollah Badawi mengatakan adalah sukar untuk polis mengawal keadaan. Mahathir pula menuduh SUHAKAM tidak memikirkan ancaman keselamatan.

Tetapi tiada bukti reformis mengancam keselamatan - jika tidak pasti SUHAKAM akan mencatat dan membidas gejala itu. Lagipun polis tidak berhak melakukan keganasan jika benar reformis mengancam keselamatan, TIDAK ada peruntukkan dan akta yang menghalalkan perkara itu!

Soalnya di sini - kalau tidak dapat mengawal polis mengapa tidak ditangkap sahaja polis yang tidak dapat mengawal perasaan geram? Kesukaran bukan alasan untuk polis melanggar undang-undang dan bertindak seperti binatang. Lagipun polis masih mendera (sembur gas dalam truk fru dan menafikan rawatan segera) SESUDAH penunjuk perasaan ditahan dan tidak mampu melawan. Dollah Badawi sepatutnya meletak jawatan!

Ada banyak implikasi dari lapuran SUHAKAM ini. Ia juga menyindir polis agar mengadakan siasatan sendiri. Maruah polis dan Mahathir sudah tercemar teruk dengan lapuran ini.
- Editor]

Rujukan:

http://theage.com.au/news/world/2001/08/21/FFXTS8BRLQC.html

Malaysia police cited for cruelty

By SEAN YOONG

KUALA LUMPUR
Tuesday 21 August 2001

In a fresh blow to the reputation of Malaysia's police, the national human rights commission yesterday accused officers of using cruelty and excessive force to put down one of the country's biggest anti-government rallies.

The panel, in its report after an inquiry into abuse allegations, urged police to conduct their own investigations to flush out officers who "behaved in a manner not permitted by law" at last November's protest.

"If police personnel know that they will be disciplined for misbehavior, they are more likely to conduct themselves in a restrained manner in future operations," the report said.

The findings, not legally binding, bolster claims by opposition parties that police crack down too harshly on protests against Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's government, which last month banned open-air rallies.

Federal police spokesman Benjamin Hasbie said authorities could not immediately comment on the report.

The opposition has accused police of partisanship for breaking up scores of anti-government rallies since 1998, when Dr Mahathir fired his popular deputy Anwar Ibrahim over conflicting views on coping with the Asian economic crisis.

Mr Anwar's dismissal initially drew thousands of protesters to the streets. He was later jailed for 15 years on what he says were fabricated charges of corruption and s###my. The government denies any conspiracy. Public protests have diminished.

The largest rally last year was on November 5 when about 5000 people choked an expressway near Kuala Lumpur. Opposition activists and journalists told the rights panel's inquiry that police used chemically laced water, tear gas and batons without warning to disperse demonstrators.

At least 122 were arrested and detained for up to several days. Some said they had been assaulted during their arrests and suffered delays in receiving medical treatment in custody.

The panel, which interviewed 16 police officials, said it had not identified the officers involved in the alleged abuses but stressed that police had committed offences including "the cruel and inhuman treatment of detainees".

"The police should review the methods of crowd dispersal," the report said.

- AP

http://www.abc.net.au/ra/newsdaily/s349495.htm

Malaysian police guilty of human rights abuses: inquiry

A top level inquiry has found that Malaysia's police were guilty of violating human rights and "cruel and inhuman" treatment of detainees after a mass anti-government protest last November.

In a report of its first public inquiry since being established in April last year, the government-backed Human Rights Commission of Malaysia has found police used excessive force against protesters.

Water cannon and teargas were used against some 5,000 supporters of jailed ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim on November the 5th and 116 people were detained.

The Commission, known by its Malay acronym Suhakam echoed recommendations it made earlier this month in a report on "Freedom of Assembly", urging police to allow peaceful assemblies and not to use roadblocks to prevent gatherings.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad dismissed the commission's earlier report , saying it had ignored national security concerns.

The commission has no powers of enforcement and can only make recommendations.

(20/08/01, 21:50:08 AEST)

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,1870,65427,00.html?

Rights panel finds police abuses at pro-Anwar protest

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's police were guilty of violating human rights and 'cruel and inhuman' treatment of detainees after a mass anti-government protest last November, a top-level inquiry found yesterday.

The government-backed Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, in a 66-page report on its first public inquiry since being set up in April last year, found police used excessive force against protesters.

Water cannon and tear gas were brought to bear on some 5,000 supporters of jailed ex-deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, gathered on the Kesas highway near Kuala Lumpur on Nov 5 and 116 people were detained.

Some detainees complained to the commission - known by its Malay acronym, Suhakam - of police brutality and a three-member panel began the inquiry in December.

'The panel is clearly of the view that there were violations of human rights arising from the Kesas highway incident,' the report said.

'The agency responsible for the human rights violations is the police,' it added.

Suhakam echoed recommendations it made earlier this month in a report, Freedom of Assembly, urging police to allow peaceful meets.

The latest report followed interviews with 46 witnesses, including doctors, detainees and police, over 20 days.

'I hope the police will take it in the right spirit,' said panel member Mehrun Siraj.

'We are not targeting them. We are just trying to suggest ways to balance the rights of the individual and the rights of police in maintaining law and order.'

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he would scrutinise the report, adding that it was always difficult for police to deal with mobs at illegal assemblies. --AFP

http://home.kyodo.co.jp/all/display.jsp?an=20010820166

Malaysian police under fire again from human rights body

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug. 20, Kyodo - Malaysian police used excessive force against a massive antigovernment rally last November, the country's Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) said in a scathing report released Monday.

In the 66-page report, the result of a four-month inquiry, Suhakam said the police committed human rights violations when dispersing the crowd, making arrests and detaining those arrested.

The inquiry into the rally held in Jalan Kebun, on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, was the first conducted by Suhakam since it was established by the government last year.

On Nov. 5, several thousand supporters of former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim held one of their biggest rallies since September 1998, the month Anwar was sacked from the government.

The police had earlier erected roadblocks to screen cars heading into Jalan Kebun, creating a long traffic jam and forcing the demonstrators to hold their protests on the highway, only to be met with tear gas and water cannon.

Police reportedly smashed up several cars for defying an order to retreat.

At the end of the day, 126 people were arrested. Under the Police Act, any public gathering of three or more people requires a police permit. Violators risk being fined up to 10,000 ringgit (about $2,632) and jailed for up to a year.

During the inquiry, the three-member Suhakam panel interviewed a total of 30 witnesses plus 16 police personnel.

The panel urged the police to conduct their own investigation into police brutality besides reviewing their method of crowd dispersal by exercising restraint in the use of canes, batons, tear gas and water cannon.

The report follows an Aug. 3 report by the commission on freedom of assembly in Malaysia.

The Aug. 3 report called for greater freedom of assembly and for police to relax controls on rallies, singling out the arbitrary way for police to issue permits for public rallies.