PUTRAJAYA, 28 Jan 2009: The people should not regard criminals as heroes and the police who enforce the law as demons, Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said today.
Speaking in general terms, he said no one was above the law and added that action would be taken against those who broke the law, even if it was the police.
“We will not conceal the facts,” he told reporters at his office here.
Syed Hamid said he was not linking his statement, made in general terms, with the death of car theft suspect A Kugan who had died while in police custody at the USJ 8 police station in Subang Jaya on 20 Jan.
“I am not pinpointing anybody,” the minister stressed.
He explained that police had detained three suspects including Kugan following investigations into 19 cases of vehicle theft and armed robbery.
The minister also asked the people not to politicise the investigation into Kugan’s death, saying it would make the police task more difficult.
“They must talk of the case based on facts and not assumptions,” he said.
Kugan, 22, who was detained on 15 Jan at the police station on suspicion of being involved in the theft of luxury cars in Sungai Chua, Kajang, had died while being questioned.
Selangor police chief Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar had said a post-mortem found that Kugan had died due to fluid in his lungs but Kugan’s family sought a second post-mortem, insisting that Kugan had died of injuries sustained during his interrogation.
Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said later that Kugan’s death had been classified as murder. A second post-mortem on Kugan has been done since.
The police are investigating Kugan’s death and the results are expected to be known soon.
Kugan’s funeral was held today. — Bernama
See also: Kugan buried in Puchong
D Lim says
Justice must be seen and practised. Kugan, being an alleged car theft, was not a person whose life was worth nothing. Justice is no more if we discriminate based on character, race, religion and wealth. Is the life of an alleged thief/criminal worth less than those who did not commit crime? If Kugan was to be punished for his crime, it must be done in a open and fair manner. When the public loses faith in the police force and justice system, it is only expected that they take matters in their own hands. Injustice begets hatred and eventually violence.