Headgate - Police Bullshit!

Selangor CPO Datuk Yahya Udin and the Kajang OCPD Asst Comm Mohd Noor Hakim claimed that cutting the hair of detainees was mandatory under Section 9A of the Lock-Up Rules.

But Perak People’s Progressive Party (PPP) deputy chairman Naran Singh shot that bullshit down, stating that Section 9A of the Lock-Up Rules only applied to prisoners and not detainees under investigation. The section provides for all prisoners, with the exception of Sikhs, to have their hair shorn.

Based on Naran Singh’s revelation, then those 2 senior police officer were either lying through their teeth or they didn’t know their stuff. Either way, they should be sacked!

Naran Singh’s clarification has been supported by Gerakan VP and party legal bureau chairman Chang Ko Youn, who said in his years of legal service he had never heard of such cases where detainees suffered the abuse.

Police chiefs of other states also agreed that the so-called procedure of shaving police detainess was not practised in their own regions. Only where necessary, detainees have been given a slight trim to make themselves presentable when facing the court, particularly for those with unkempt shoulder length hair. Even then, the officer should exercise discretion on each individual case. But a shave right down to the bare skin has never been sanctioned.

In Sarawak, two senior police officer, Sri Aman district police chief ACP Hamid Bulat and Miri district police chief ACP Fauzi Saadi Diol said that shaving detainees’ hair was neither practised nor necessary.

This goes to show that the law is after all not an ass. But those responsible for the abuse of senior citizens are in fact worse than asses, for after abusing the detainees, they lied to the public or fail to provide the correct facts. It bespeaks the importance of the public monitoring, controlling and correcting the shonky police.

It’s not enough for the PM to merely ask for a police investigation with a promise to take disciplinary action against those police personnel directly responsible for saving the heads. The repetitive case of police abuses tell us of a systemic problem relating to poor leadership, poor management and poor discipline.

Besides, who trust the police to investigate themselves? I am surprised that in the immediate aftermath of the Squatgate Commission’s report, the PM has still fallen again on the police to investigate their colleagues. As the Romans wisely stated "Quis custodiet ipsos custodies" (Who will guard the guards?). Even the ancient ones worried about the trustworthiness of their law guardians.

What the PM needs to do now is to make the hard decision and sack the IGP, his deputy, the Selangor CPO and the Kajang OCPD for a start. Yes, they need to be sacked because they don’t and won't have the honour to resign. Their sacking will send a shiver down the spine of the police force to pull up their socks and bloody behave - in this case, it's appropriate to kill instead the monkeys to frighten the chooks down at the bottom!