The November 8 in Klang incident when the police shot dead several suspected criminals after a car chase has emboldened a number of individuals, more prominently perhaps a strong accusation from DAP, of summarily killing. While the Inspector General of Police Musa Hassan’s response of you are either with the police or you are with criminals[0] as well as the police force’s whole reputation are hardly convincing at all, for this particular episode, I view the criticism against the police as utterly unfair.
I am extremely skeptical of implicit accusation of racism, as implied by The Malaysian Insider’s report which frames a DAP politician accusation as “waging a war of revenge against the Indian community by ordering the police to kill suspected criminals.”[1] To be fair to P. Sugumaran, the DAP member of Ipoh Barat, he seemed to be making that statement within context of other incidents which the police acted wrongly. Nevertheless, the statement was made with strong reference to the November 8 incident.
This is a delicate subject to tackle. At its heart is a question why certain ethnic groups are perceived to heighten the likelihood of a person being a criminal. It could be either wrongful stereotype or that the statistical distribution actually sided with the unwanted side of conclusion. One has to be very careful for in fight crime and committing racial prejudice. Nevertheless, increasingly, any police action taken against a certain ethnic group is considered an act of racism, regardless whether there is a strong case or not against a particular person.
I am further unimpressed and disappointed by the stress on alleged criminal. The status of the deceased as alleged criminal has been used to justify condemning the police for killing the suspects. Due to that, they argue the police should not have opened fire. This stress fails to take a holistic view of the event.
Indeed, everybody is innocent until proven guilty but these condemnations ignore crucial two things.
First, the suspects opened fire first. They even tried to force the police off the road.[2] If the police’s assertion is true, then one should not expect the police to go meet up with the suspects to ask kindly them to surrender. What kind of mad man would walk up to a suspect asking, “sir, would you surrender your weapon please?” when the suspect is threateningly pointing a pistol at the officer?
Even if the police decided to be ridiculously polite in their approach, the suspects were running away.
As a third person, I see that the police right to retaliate. Furthermore, while having somebody killed is always deplorable, it is, for the lack of better word, a gunfight.
Second is the very fact that these suspects have guns that should be obvious because the suspects used it in an aggressive manner.
The police deserve a lot of criticism, but not in this case. Criticism thrown at the police so far has been irrationally partisan to the point that the police can do no right.
Be fair.
[0] — KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 — Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan today said those who questioned police action in shooting suspects should consider whether they wanted to support those who upheld the law or the criminals.
He said this when asked to comment on claims that the police had used excessive force in a recent shooting in Klang, where five suspected robbers were gunned down
”The duty of the police is to protect the people. We do not protect criminals,” Musa was quoted as saying by state news agency Bernama. [IGP: To question police action is to support criminals. The Malaysian Insider. October 18 2009]
[1] — 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. [DAP blames BN for cops playing cowboys with Indians. The Malaysian Insider. October 15 2009]
[2] — KLANG: Police shot dead five suspected robbers in a shootout after a high speed car chase in Taman Klang Utama at 12.30am Sunday.
The five, believed to be dangerous and high on the wanted list, were involved in at least 10 robberies in Selangor and the Klang Valley for the past one year.
Selangor CID chief Senior Asst Comm II Datuk Hasnan Hassan said a team from the Klang district serious crime division spotted the five men in a Perodua Kelisa in Lorong Sungai Keramat around 12 midnight.
Realising that they were being followed, the robbers tried to forced the police car off the road while firing a few shots at them. [Five robbers killed in shootout with police (Update). The Star. October 8 2009]
