EDICT Media Statement |
Wednesday, 22 July 2020 21:24 |
Another death in custody while politicians recite “all lives matter”*
1. We regret that yet another person has died in police custody.
2. According to information we have received, the death occurred in the lockup of IPD (Ibu Pejabat Polis Daerah) Segamat and the deceased is a middle-aged Chinese male.
3. We have not been able to locate any statements by the Johor police or Bukit Aman about this death. We call upon Johor Police Chief Deputy Commissioner Datuk Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay to comment.
4. Anyone who walks into a lockup should walk out. Yet, according to data released in parliament, an average of 16 persons per year do not walk out. They die.
5. Worse, neither the Inspector General of Police nor the Home Minister have announced plans to end deaths in custody and arrest any possible decline in public confidence in the police.
6. In a statement on 10 July 2020 (link) we noted that in 2004 the police issued CID Directive No. 10 which stipulates “all police investigations into deaths in police custody have to be completed within the period of 1 month and an inquest must be held.” We can prove through court records that that goal is routinely missed.
7. Though the mantra “every life matters” is often repeated in Malaysia, the Inspector General of Police and the Home Minister remain silent in the face of the scourge of deaths in police lockups.
8. Therefore, we call upon the Chairman of the Parliamentary Special Select Committee on Defence and Home Affairs, YB Nik Nazmi bin Nik Ahmad, MP for Setiawangsa [PH-PKR], to summon the Home Minister and demand a plan to end the scourge.
9. We further call on MPs on both sides of the house to either support actions to end the treatment of humans as inanimate objects or stop repeating “all lives matter.”
EDICT
22 July 2020
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Last Updated on Saturday, 25 July 2020 11:36 |