Tuesday, April 19, 2005

MADPET(19/4/05) STOP HANGING OF SINGAPORE TWINS' FATHER

STOP HANGING OF SINGAPORE TWINS’ FATHER

We note with concern and sadness the case of 14 year old Singaporean twins Gopalan and Krishnan Murugesu, who have been tramping the streets of the city-state seeking public support for a petition against the execution of their father. Their father Shanmugam Murugesu was sentenced to death for drug possession and will be executed unless Singapore President S.R.Nathan grants his petition for clemency. This heart-rending case well illustrates the evil caused by the infliction of the death penalty.

The death penalty is an extremely cruel and degrading form of punishment.The condemned person not only suffers from the barbarity of the execution itself, but also the cruelty of waiting upon death row for the day he is to be methodically killed by the state.

It has never been proven that the imposition of the death penalty reduces the incidence of crime. On the other hand, there is overwhelming proof of the horrendous impact of the death penalty upon the loved ones of thecondemned person.

These two young boys will almost certainly be seriously traumatized by the killing of their father by the State, particularly since he is the only parent they have. They are mere children who should be in school or at theplayground, and living the carefree existence of childhood. Instead, they are walking the streets of Singapore, begging for their's father's life. How can the State of Singapore justify this?

Justice that is not tempered with mercy is nothing more than the brute unfeeling exercise of force by the State. In the name of pity and human dignity, and for the sake of these suffering children, we call upon His Excellency President S.R. Nathan to grant the clemency petition of Shanmugam Murugesu.

We also call upon the government of Singapore to immediately impose a moratorium upon all executions, as a first step towards final abolition of the death penalty.

N. Surendran
Charles Hector
Salbiah Ahmad

for Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture (MADPET)

19th April 2005

Saturday, April 09, 2005

MADPET(9/4/05) POLICE MUST STOP HUMILIATING ARRESTED PERSONS

Police Must STOP Humiliating Arrested Persons

We are shocked that the Federal CID Director Comm. Datuk Fauzi Shaari has defended the action of police in giving crew-cuts to arrested persons detained at police station lock-ups. It must be remembered that persons detained at police lock-ups are mere suspects pending investigation. Many a time arrested persons are released in a couple of hours or days after police investigations show that they are not involved in the crime they are suspected to have committed.In his statement reported in the Star (9/4/2005), Datuk Fauzi Shaari absurdly claims that the crew-cuts are necessary for hygiene and discipline reasons.

In claiming that the crew-cuts are necessary for discipline reasons, Datok Fauzi Shaari clearly exhibits the police department’s inveterate inability to understand that arrested persons are not convicts and are innocent until proven guilty. The police have no right to humiliate arrested persons in this manner in order to impose discipline. It is not the task of the police department to teach discipline to the Malaysian public.

It is time the police realize that in this country arrested persons cannot be treated as if they were inmates of notorious penal institutions such as Chekhov’s Island of Sakhalin or the Gulag Archipelago or Devil’s Island. This seems obvious to everyone except the police department who appear to think that it is permissible to treat arrested suspects as if they were hardened convicts.

As regard Datok Fauzi’s claim that crew-cuts are necessary for hygiene purposes, we take this as an admission that police lock-ups are unhygienic places. It is undeniable that lock-ups in Malaysia are generally smelly, dirty, over-crowded and lacking adequate toilet and bathroom facilities. The police department ought to take the initiative to improve conditions instead of giving crew-cuts to detainees

In addition, the time of the police department is better spent investigating and solving crimes instead of posing as ‘barbers’ to arrested persons.

It is unacceptable that the Federal CID Chief should think that he has the right to treat Malaysians in this manner and for these reasons.

We demand that the practice of giving hair-cuts to arrested persons immediately cease as it is humiliating and is an affront to human dignity.

N. Surendran
Charles Hector
for Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture (MADPET)

9th April 2005
Kuala Lumpur