By Clara Chooi
IPOH, Nov 15 – A DAP politician has accused the Barisan Nasional (BN) government of waging a war of revenge against the Indian community by ordering the police to kill suspected criminals.
Ipoh Barat DAP secretary P. Sugumaran (pic) lambasted the action, saying that the police had no right to pass judgement without first asking them to surrender.
“Their actions are clearly the BN’s political agenda to take revenge on the Indian community in the country.
“But how different are they from the suspected criminals they murder when their actions are tantamount to a criminal act in itself?” Sugumaran said in a statement here yesterday.
He cited the Nov 8 incident in Klang when the police had shot dead five robbers during a high-speed car chase and the recent shooting of the Deva Gang leader in Penang.
The incident involving the five had raised public outcry over similar killings in the past, particularly of Indian suspected criminals, especially after the sister of one deceased attempted suicide along with her four children.
Since then, questions have been raised over the methods used by the police to curb crime by sending suspected criminals to their deaths instead of giving them their right to justice.
The police have however come out in their own defence, with Federal Criminal Investigation Department director Bakri Zinin claiming in a statement that in all shootouts, the police were fired at first.
He also claimed they did not respond in kind to kill the suspects but rather to “stop the deadly threat from causing hurt to innocent bystanders”.
Sugumaran rubbished these claims and said that the trigger-happy cops were just proving their incompetence in carrying out their duties.
“And each time a suspect is shot dead by the police, heaps of stories would be created to defame the name of the dead individual and justify the police’s action.
“Why is it that the police seem to enjoy killing these suspected Indian criminals without first ascertaining if they are alone or in a group?” he said.
He urged the government to respond to the outcry over the police’s “uncivilised” method.
"Why is it that the identities of the police involved have never once been exposed?
"What actions are the government willing to take to stop this from recurring?" he questioned.

written by seberang, November 15, 2009
written by Harvin Dhillon, November 15, 2009
The police first task is to take control of the situation and calm things down and if that fails, and no other options available, only then they should use their weapons, and even then it should be to disable the suspect and not kill them.
There are body parts you can shoot to take down a suspect without killing them. Only the last resort when things are looking too dangerous for the public and themselves should they take action to shoot to kill.
The police need more training, why dont they get some outsiders with experience to train these morons rather than getting classy new cars for them and wasting taxpayers money!
written by Police Cowbow, November 15, 2009
written by ifan, November 15, 2009
written by yearofsnake, November 15, 2009
written by sukree, November 15, 2009
written by 2nd class, November 15, 2009
written by rsbn001 , November 15, 2009
Ask those who has been their victim.
written by i wonder, November 15, 2009
written by Anak malaya, November 15, 2009
written by ariff, November 15, 2009
written by Teoh Nia Mah, November 15, 2009
written by mikecheong, November 15, 2009
"Why is it that the police seem to enjoy killing these suspected Indian criminals"
WHOA!! this is very coloured..
written by mikecheong, November 15, 2009
written by AgreeToDisagree, November 15, 2009
WRONG. No logic. But if they were not threatening anyone and maybe kept the weapons for self defense? A warning and confiscation would be more appropriate, no one has the right to take away a man's life for just owning a firearm. No reasonable judge would find that fair at all. A knife could also kill a person, but if not used to kill would that mean all people owning knives would be sentenced to death? So make sticks and stones illegal as well why don't you. Even without knives, if someone wanted to kill another hard enough, a killing would occur even with bare hands. Wheres the logic in taking away a life for owning a weapon that may never be used?
written by The Observer, November 15, 2009
Of course it leads to people assuming that it was shoot to kill rather than to apprehend. The police explanation is so illogical. This is what we are arguing about.
We demand that independent postmortem be done after every killing and the results revealed to the people than it will absolve the police of high handedness.
written by victim, November 15, 2009
written by mamalyn, November 15, 2009
written by anak melaka sejati, November 16, 2009
Try picture yourself in a situation where split-second decision has to be taken. Any split-second delay can cause your demise. Never let the enemy gain the upper hand!
written by presley, November 16, 2009
There are so many innocent victims being injured or killed on the street by these brutal criminals, sometimes over a small amount of money or a cheap handphones. There should not be any mercy being given to them, especially if they have weapons, whether knife or guns.
Yeah, I am PR supporter, but definitely don't support this man's speech.
It is wrong to based this argument on racial basis. Does that means that the police kill the criminals if they are not Indians ?
written by keat, November 16, 2009
written by JustaGuy, November 16, 2009
Probably why may be a good idea to train the cop to shout 'Freeze' instead or perhaps english as they are shorter. Coppers may be shot or injured but they have to remember it is part of the risk and they have to be prepared for it. No way, just cause you are cop, you are given license to kill.
written by Schizzy, November 16, 2009
If the cops are being fired at, they have every right to shoot back at the shooter(s). If they have unarmed accomplices, that's really their problem. It's a risk they took when they decided to accompany an armed man.
written by lack loose, November 16, 2009
written by S. Velayutham, November 16, 2009
written by KB, November 16, 2009
written by Braman, November 16, 2009
To all those who lauded this shootout pls remember this can happen to anyone - the police don't have to prove anything. Their claim that a shot was fired by the suspects is enough. Are postmortems ever done
The police are hired to bring criminals to justice. Although they have a right to defend themselves, they are also duty bound not to be executioners.
written by PureMalaysian, November 16, 2009
Dear PDRM, all the best and let's continue to reduce our crime rate ASAP! Don't just listen to all these politicians that just want to win some votes!!!
written by Tarchornis, November 16, 2009
Being killed in a shootout with the police, on the other hand, is a different story, particularly if it can be proven that the other side had a gun, shot first and returned fire.
If it can be proven that police planted the gun and return shots were never fired, that’s a whole different story as well.
But to drag in the racial card here is a little ridiculous.
Harvin Dhillon says:
“There are body parts you can shoot to take down a suspect without killing them. Only the last resort when things are looking too dangerous for the public and themselves should they take action to shoot to kill.”
Seeing this really annoys me. Contrary to popular belief, NO, THERE AREN’T. Stop believing what you see on CSI and cop shows and STOP SPREADING THIS BIT OF MISINFORMATION.
Unlike all those action movies where police can magically shoot someone in the kneecap or shoulder, or shoot the gun out of someone’s hand, it's impractical to do that in real life. The chance of hitting someone firing away is low enough as it is without aiming for a particular body part.
Aiming for a moving limb that is smaller than the torso? A very high chance of missing. And a much higher chance that the bullet ricochets and hits an innocent bystander.
Also, even if you hit a shoulder or a limb the person shot can still rapidly bleed to death if it hits a major artery. So aiming for the torso is still the most logical choice, really.
I even read a silly comment on MI where someone argued that since only 1 gun was found the car police shouldn’t have shot all 5 of them. I wonder how the police could have known there was only 1 gun before the fight was over? If you are being fired at and you see 5 people it’s not unreasonable to assume all 5 are armed.
I doubt most of the people commenting here have ever held or fired a gun in real life, but in a real fire fight, it’s very difficult to see what’s going on. Don’t believe me, try going for a (ok let’s play it safe for civilians) paintball battle in a non-speedball scenario. After a quick shootout in a rubber estate a lot of the armchair theorists will suddenly come to appreciate how bloody hard it is to even find the shooter when they are shooting away at you, much less aim and hit the shooter without getting hit. If you STILL want to be Steven Seagal or whatever and AIM for an arm or leg… good luck, and nice knowing you, man.
In short: if you carry a gun, be responsible with your usage of it or be prepared to face lethal force. There are no warning shots. You gave away that right when you chose to carry a lethal weapon yourself.
If you still want to complain about police shooting to kill and want them to do it non-lethally, go campaign for our police force to be equipped with ranged taser guns instead. That at least is constructive.
Granted, there are a lot of bad apples in our corrupted police force. I too have had my bad experiences with our police. But there are also policemen who are at least trying to do something to keep the crime rate down and I am not letting my bad experiences with a few cause me to blindly join in on the bashing to vent my frustrations of the bad ones.
I’m glad most Malaysians are circumspect enough to be able to tell the difference. I’m just sad to find out that this DAP MP isn’t one of them.
written by LESLIEFONG, November 16, 2009
written by mamalyn, November 16, 2009
written by lia, November 16, 2009
written by Jong, November 16, 2009
written by Murasan, November 17, 2009
let them use sting guns instead.
They are trigger happy and want to test their shooting skills on humans.
They have no right !
They are GOVT. employees and must be punished severely in this case.
written by Tarchornis, November 17, 2009
Excuse me? An exchange of 12 shots? Suspects shot first? High speed chase down the Jelutong expressway?
Nothing trigger happy about the police there. Police from any other country would have done the same.
Honestly, where do these people get their definitions of a policeman's job? It's all very well to say vague phrases like "arrest, control crime and bring them in" but have you ever even given thought to the specifics on HOW to do that?
Nope. Didn't think so.
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GEORGE TOWN, MALAYSIA - Police gunned down a leader of the infamous Deva Gang after a high-speed chase through the busy Jelutong Expressway here, yesterday.
The man had opened fire at them when they intercepted him. The 37-year-old suspect, described as dangerous and high on the police wanted list, was found slumped on the front passenger seat of a Perodua Myvi, believed stolen in Johor.
State police chief Datuk Ayub Yaakob said there was an exchange of about 12 shots between the policemen and suspect when the chase ended abruptly in Pengkalan Weld at 3.50pm.
"The team had tailed him from Bukit Jambul after a tip-off, but the suspect sensed he was being followed while driving on the Jelutong Expressway.
"As they reached Pengkalan Weld, the suspect suddenly opened fire at the police, forcing them to intercept his car and shoot back."
He added that police recovered a pistol with a bullet inside the chamber and five bullets inside another magazine from the car.
Some paraphernalia for consuming syabu and a police baseball cap were also found.
Police also retrieved a forged Singapore identity card from the dead man.
"Our investigations show that he was planning to kidnap someone here," Ayub said, adding that the suspect was trigger-happy, dangerous and owned at least three pistols.
Police were now looking for other firearms and also the suspect's remaining gang members.
"We believe his death has weakened the Deva Gang," Ayub said.
Yesterday's success in nailing the suspect was a joint-effort between the Bukit Aman police team and the state police, he said.
The body has been sent to Penang Hospital for a post-mortem.
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written by bananarepublic, November 18, 2009




