http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/7/2/nation/20090702184139&sec=na\
tion

Kugan case proceeds ... without a judge!
By YENG AI CHUN Thurs July 2, 2009 MYT 6:40:00 PM

KUALA LUMPUR: The judge might have been away, but this did not stop the
prosecution and the defence from arguing their case in the High Court here
Thursday.

It was supposed to have been the first day of hearing for the return of
documents, tissue samples and bodily fluids of suspected car thief A. Kugan
who died while in police custody, but Justice Muhamad Ideres Muhamad Rapee
was away in Kedah.

Nevertheless, the prosecution and the defence carried on with their
arguments before a stunned court official.

Senior assistant registrar Azlinda Ahmad Sharif tried to intervene to
explain that she could not hear any kind of arguments in the absence of the
judge, but her words were drowned out by the heated exchange between Deputy
Public Prosecutor Noorin Badaruddin and defence lawyer N. Surendran.

The war of words between the two started when Surendran asked Noorin to
clarify her grounds to get the case thrown out on technical grounds.

Noorin replied that there was no need for her to do that as the prosecution'
s ground had been clearly stated.

Surendran insisted that he must be given specific grounds to enable him to
reply.

Noorin then repeated that the three grounds of the prosecution's objection
have been clearly stated.

However, she said she would "happily" provide further clarification if
needed.

In the end, no order was given on the matter as the exchange between the two
was not considered a real proceeding.

The hearing was postponed to July 15.

Kugan's mother N. Indra, 41, who was also present Thursday, had filed a
notice of motion and a supporting affidavit through her lawyer for the
return of his samples on May 28.

Indra is asking the High Court to set aside and/ or cancel a search warrant
issued by the Petaling Jaya Magistrates Court for the search and seizure at
the pathologist's office on April 6.

Outside the courtroom, Surendran hit out at the Attorney-General for the
delay in prosecuting whoever was responsible for Kugan's death.

"We hold the A-G responsible because the power to prosecute is his," he told
reporters.

He said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri
Abdul Aziz's statement that the authorities were waiting for the results of
a probe carried out by the Malaysian Medical Council should not have any
bearing on the issue.

The probe, he said, was on the professional conduct of the first pathologist
and had nothing to do with finding out who was responsible for Kugan's
death.
____

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/107695

Quest to reclaim Kugan's samples foiled
Wong Pheak Zern & Emily Chow | Jul 2, 09 4:37pm

The family of deceased A. Kugan was once again left disappointed. The judge
hearing the application for the return of his seized blood and tissue
samples was away outstation so the case was postponed this morning.

Counsel for the family N.Surendren, said this to reporters outside the
courtroom, on his behalf senior assistant registrar Azlinda binti Ahmad
Sharif adjourned the hearing to July 15.

"The hearing was postponed because of the preliminary objections raised on
technical grounds by Deputy Public Prosecutor Noorin Badaruddin against the
Kugan family's application," he said.

Surendran added that they were disappointed with the DPP for raising
the objections without clearly specifying what the technical grounds were.

"They wanted to catch us by surprise, as it is standard practice for the
lawyer of one side to provide details of their objections to the opposing
lawyer," said Surendren.

However, Noorin told reporters that she had already laid down the grounds
for her objections on paper.

Police detained Kugan, 22, for alleged car theft early this year. He died
five days later in their custody.

"Illegal seizure"

The first post-mortem report by Dr. Abdul Karim Tajuddin at the Serdang
Hospital gave fluid in the lungs as the cause of death.

However, the second post-mortem carried out by University Hospital's Dr
Prashant N. Samberkar revealed that Kugan was severely beaten up resulting
in kidney failure and death.

Currently, the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) is probing Dr. Karim
Tajuddin's professional conduct in relation to the cause of Kugan's death in
the first post-mortem report. The investigation, which was originally
scheduled for June 19, had been postponed to August 21.

On April 6, police seized Kugan's blood and tissue samples, documents and
even Dr Preshant's handwritten notes from the University Hospital's
Pathology Department.

However, according to Surendran, no reason was given for the action.

"The seizure was illegal, because those samples were required for Dr
Prashant to complete his post mortem examination," he said.

Surendran added, "The police knew that the toxicology reports were not
completed yet. This poses a question: did they not want the report to be
completed? If so, why?"

Surendran also expressed frustration over Law Minister Mohamad Nazri Abdul
Aziz's statement regarding Kugan's case.

MMC probe unrelated to hearing

Nazri had stated previously that nobody would be charged before August 21,
as the MMC inquiry on Dr. Karim Tajuddin had yet to start.

"This is an absurd reason, this (MMC probe) has nothing to do with whether
or not the policemen who killed Kugan should be charged. These are two
completely different things," Surendran said.

Kugan's family, including his mother N. Indra and relative S. Renuga, were
also present at the court this morning and expressed their anger at the
police.

"The police have no right to kill people like that. There is no evidence for
Kugan's alleged crimes. Where are the cars that he had stolen?" Renuga
asked.

Surendran also expressed his disappointment with the attorney general (AG),
Abdul Gani Patail.

He said that the AG should have let the court decide whether or not the
police should have seized the samples and should the samples be returned to
University Hospital.

"Instead of doing this, the DPP raised objections without going into the
matter (of the samples) fully. This shows that the AG is not playing a
straight game here. He is not interested in establishing justice." he said.

"Even though there is a complete lack of transparency, we will fight all the
way to the highest court to get justice for Kugan's family." said Surendran.

VIDEO 3 mins
http://www.malaysiakini.tv/video/17323/kugans-family-upset-with-the-delay.html
____

Choong Soy Soy dies after "slipping and falling" in police detention; Gov't
pays Fox Communications RM 200,000 to 'fix image' of cops
http://jelas.info/2009/07/01/choong-soy-soy-dies-after-slipping-and-falling-in
-police-detention-govt-pays-fox-communications-rm-200000-to-fix-image-of-cop
s/

No foul play in drug suspect's death, say police
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/7/2/nation/4242243&sec=nation

Cause of Police Detainee's Death To Be Known By July 17
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/news_lite.php?id=422433
____

http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2009/07/02/100-reasons-why-malaysia-needs-a-new-
inspector-general-of-police/

100 reasons why Malaysia needs a new Inspector-General of Police
posted on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

The passage of the Enforcement Agencies Integrity Commission (SIAP) Bill by
Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday is the last nail in the coffin of the Independent
Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) proposed by the Royal
Police Commission more than four years ago in May 2005.

It also marks the failure of the Barisan Nasional government and the police
leadership to fully honour and implement the 125 recommendations of the
Royal Police Commission set up by former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah
Ahmad Badawi during his "First 100 Days" to revamp and reform the police,
which had raised such high hopes and expectations among Malaysians creating
such a national euphoria that Abdullah won an unprecedented landslide
victory in the March 2004 general elections winning over 91% of the
parliamentary seats!

Who must take the greatest responsibility for such a great national letdown
and disappointment, if not the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa
Hassan?

This is why I said more than once in Parliament in the debate on SIAP Bill
that there are over 100 reasons why the country needs a new
Inspector-General of Police to set the police force on a new course of
direction, with new commitment and vision, which can win public confidence
where Malaysians regard the police as their friend and protector - a
sentiment Malaysians have lost for over a decade since their loss of two
fundamental rights, the right to be free from crime and to be from the fear
of crime!

What are the major failures of Musa as Inspector-General of Police?

The three core functions proposed by the Police Royal Commission of Inquiry
reflect the three biggest failures of Musa as IGP.

In its report in May 2005, the Police Royal Commission proposed "As an
immediate measure, PDRM should target a minimum of 20 per cent decrease in
the number of crimes committed for each category within 12 months of this
Report's acceptance and implementation."

The latest statistics available to the Police Royal Commission at the time
was the 156,455 incidence of crime in 2004, which was an increase of 29 per
cent from 121,176 cases in 1997.

This was what the Police Royal Commission said:

"The increase seriously dented Malaysia's reputation as a safe country.
Malaysians in general, the business sector and foreign investors grew
increasingly concerned with the situation. The fear was that, if the trend
continues, there would be major social and economic consequences for
Malaysia. A survey of 575 respondents from the public carried out by the
Commission clearly demonstrates the extremely widespread concern among all
ethnic groups and foreign residents. Between 82.2 per cent and 90 per cent
of the respondents, or 8 to 9 persons in every 10, were concerned with the
occurrence of crime." (3.1 p.108 Report)

From the latest statistics given in Parliament, crime index have galloped to
break the 200,000 mark, with the incidence of crime shooting up to 209,582
in 2007 and 211,645 in 2008.

Instead of achieving the Police Royal Commission's target of reducing the
intolerably high incidence of crime of 156,455 cases in 2004 by 20 per cent
in 12 months (i.e. 125,164 cases), the reverse took place. In the four years
after the Royal Police Commission Report, crime index kept "reaching for the
stars" . In the seven years from 1997 to 2004, crime index increased by 29%,
but in the four years from 2004 to 2008 crime index increased by 35.5%.

How can an Inspector-General of Police who presided over such a
deterioration in the crime situation demand an extension of this renewed
term of Inspector-General of Police in September?

On the second core function to eradicate corruption, Musa Hassan has also
failed. In fact, I had called Musa in Parliament as a 'lobbyist" for
mega-contracts, whether for a proposed RM20 billion police helicopter
project or the RM4.2 billion "E-Police Force Solution", and I have not
received any satisfactory answer from Home Minister.

On the third core function to uphold human rights, clearly the Police Royal
Commission's proposal that the police officers should undergo human rights
"sensitization" orientation courses have fallen on deaf ears, with police
violation of human rights in recent months most blatant and flagrant - with
indiscriminate police arrests of Malaysians for wearing black, lighting
candles, singing birthday songs and the deployment of hundreds of police
personnel who should be catching criminals but were dispatched instead to
frustrate the holding of DAP dinners, creating the new phenomenon firstly
that Malaysians can eat but cannot talk and later that Malaysians cannot
even eat!

I said that more than a hundred reasons can easily be given as to why the
country needs a new IGP and a new police leadership, especially in his
shocking failure to lead an efficient, incorruptible, professional and
world-class police service as proposed by the Police Royal Commission!

I welcome Malaysians to come to my blog to give their reasons why the
country needs a new IGP and a new police leadership, so that Malaysians,
visitors and investors can feel safe again in this country!
____

Police misconduct: EAIC fits the bill Pt 1
http://www.malaysiakini.com/opinions/107569

Police misconduct: EAIC fits the bill Pt 2
http://www.malaysiakini.com/opinions/107660
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