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Sunday, April 02, 2006

Promiscuous-gate. Another police record!

Remember Cheng Pik Wai, the 60-year old woman who was made to strip naked even though her detention by the police had nothing to do with illicit drugs or illegal arms? I posted that episode of another alleged case of police abuse in 60-year old lady: "Cops stripped me, took my money"

Cheng went to the Jalan HS Lee police station on Thursday to make a police report on that humiliating incident, where she was abused not only by being ordered to strip naked but forced to pirouette in that nude state for the sadistic enjoyment of some police women. Additionally, she alleged that she was robbed of RM200 after she had already given RM10 to the demands of one police woman named Samsiah for ‘refreshments’. According to her, Samsiah had also demanded her ATM card plus the pin number.

In the interview conducted by a police woman, Sgt Chan, Cheng discovered to her shock that she was asked humiliating questions that have no relevance to the case. It can only be described as a deliberate police intention to ‘punish’ her through further humiliations for her revelation of the earlier event.

Some of the questions asked were:

• How did you meet your husband?
• Are you legally married?
• How many children do you have?
• Do they all have the same father?
• Why did you come to Malaysia?
• Tell me about your education background?
• How old are your parents?
• Where did your father die?

Now bear this in mind, and put things in context – the woman went to the police station to make a report of police abuse, theft and extortion. Can anyone see the relevance of the above questions posed by Sgt Chan?

Maybe I am slow, but I cannot detect any relevance at all to her report of police abuse and misconduct. Look in particular at dot-points 2 to 4 and advise me if those, apart from their non-relevance, were not deliberately insulting. They were obviously designed to insinuate that Cheng is or has been immoral and/or promiscuous. Given the context of the situation, there cannot be any other possibility of police intention other than to insult, humiliate and abuse her further!

Our police force is already well-known in China for several cases of alleged police abuse of Chinese nationals, either visiting our nation or resident here as wives of Malaysian citizens.

The case of the 4 Chinese wives of Malaysian citizens who were illegally detained at a police station for a number of days, peeped at while they were bathing, suffered humiliating lewd suggestions from a policeman, their husbands demanded of money to expedite their cases to the Immigration, then terrorised at night by policemen after they made a police report, has yet to be resolved.

Well, the notoriety of the Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) has now spread further to the USA and Taiwan, and of course re-invoked in China, as Cheng’s relatives and friends in those 3 countries learned of her abuse at the hand of our law enforcers(?) and contacted her to voice their concerns.

Make a guess as to what Cheng would relate to them, and what those relatives and friends would in turn inform their relatives and friends, if not their local media.

DAP MP Teresa Kok who supported Cheng during a press conference at the DAP Seputeh headquarters in Kuala Lumpur averred that the unbelievable continued police abuse against Cheng showed that there was an immediate need for the implementation of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).

The 2nd case of verbal humiliation was an unacceptable show of police defiance towards public concerns over police abuses. Teresa Kok said:

“Such abuses are still happening despite the police top brass having instructed the force to change lock-up procedures. It just shows that their internal disciplinary mechanism does not work.”

One can only wonder to what extent the IGP's personal example of defiance against the PM’s wish to have the IPCMC established has influenced such recalcitrant police behaviour where it's obvious the police personal aren't concerned at all of public complaints. To further abuse a member of the public while she was reporting an earlier abuse, well, that must surely be the ultimate in arrogant defiance.

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