Media Statement – 31/1/2025
Professional Investigation and No selective non-prosecution for police that shot and killed a man, and caused injury to several other Indonesians.
Abolish the Independent Police Conduct Commission (IPCC), and re-table the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) Bill
Another case of Malaysian police shooting when one was shot dead, but this time some managed to escape. Those who escaped, who were later arrested, gave a different version of what happened, contradicting what the police claimed had happened. In most of past police shooting cases, unfortunately all end up dead, no one is arrested after the encounter. No shot and arrested or arrested with no gun shots.
Police version contradicted by Indonesian government
‘Selangor police chief Datuk Hussein Omar Khan told Bernama that preliminary investigations revealed the incident occurred after an MMEA patrol boat was rammed four times by another boat, believed to belong to the suspects. In the incident, two suspects, believed to be foreigners aboard the boat, allegedly attempted to attack MMEA officers with machetes in the waters of Tanjung Rhu around 3am the same day… The MMEA located the boat and found two men inside. One was pronounced dead at the scene, while the other was critically injured and was rushed to Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang for treatment.(NST,25/1/2025)
However, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied this version of events. ‘The ministry's director of protection of Indonesian citizens, Judha Nugraha, emphasized there was no resistance from the migrants, based on the accounts of the four survivors, who are currently being treated at Klang Hospital in Malaysia. Two of the four injured Indonesians were in stable condition when they provided a chronology of the shooting to representatives of the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. Both said the Indonesian workers did not try to resist arrest by wielding sharp weapons. Hence, Nugraha said, Indonesia has demanded a thorough investigation into the shooting, including the possibility of excessive use of force by the Malaysian authorities’.(Antara News, 30/1/2025)
Investigate the police, and not just the suspects, for Murder, etc
It was reported that the Malaysian police are investigating the case under Section 307 of the Penal Code for attempted murder and under Section 186 of the Penal Code for obstructing civil servants from discharging their duties.
MADPET (Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture) believes that the case should also be investigated under Section 302(Murder) or Section 304(Culpable Homicide Not Amounting to Murder) as someone has been killed by the police. The people who should be investigated is not just the suspects, but more importantly the Malaysian police officers that were involved in the shooting that killed and injured alleged suspects. Pending the completion of all investigations, all the said police officers ought to be suspended from duties.
Normally, suspects are arrested, but it seems none of the police officer suspects have been yet arrested. Even, after being arrested, suspects can be released on police bail, and need not be held in remand custody.
The Indonesian Government had made allegation that there may have been ‘excessive use of force’, and this a breach of the Malaysian law, as the police in affecting any arrest can only use REASONABLE or necessary force, and certainly not kill anyone while effecting an arrest. The only exception to the No Kill Rule is when the victims are persons already charged in court for very serious crimes.
Section 15(3) Criminal Procedure Code stated, ‘Nothing in this section gives a right to cause the death of a person who is not accused of an offence punishable with death or with imprisonment for a term of not less than thirty years but not exceeding forty years or with imprisonment for life.’
Accused are persons already charged in court, and in this case all the said persons were not – they were just alleged suspects, and that means the police cannot kill, and if anyone ends up dead, then the police have committed a crime, and naturally must be charged in court. In court, during the trial, the police officers can raise all kinds of defence, including self defence, and it is up to Court to determine whether said police officers are guilty of murder or any other killing offences, or NOT. It is not up to the police or even the Public Prosecutor to decide the innocence of the accused.
No selective ‘non-prosecution’ just because they are police
It is true that the Public Prosecutor/Attorney General have the power to decide to charge these police officers for killing crimes or NOT – but a ‘selective’ non-prosecution when the perpetrators are police, Public Officers or Ministers also will further deteriorate the perception of Rule of Law and the fairness of the administration criminal justice system in Malaysia. It is also a violation of Art(1) 8 of the Federal Constitution that guarantees and states that ‘(1) All persons are equal before the law and entitled to the equal protection of the law.’ No one is above the law.
Absent today are crimes for police officers that break the law
At present Malaysian laws state what a police must do and cannot do that with regard suspects and other persons, but sadly when the police breaches these laws, there is no crime and sentence provided for in law. This need to be remedied fast.
For example, if a male police officer causes a women suspect to strip naked, which is now against the law, there is no clear crime under which he can be charged, tried, convicted and sentenced.
Likewise, if the police used ‘excessive force’, unjustifiable violence or even cause death when effecting arrest, there is NO specific crime – forcing us to resort to general crimes like Murder, Causing Grievous Harm, etc. That will not do.
There is an urgent need for Parliament to enact laws providing for crimes by police officers caused by failure to comply existing laws, as it is strange just to have laws protecting the rights of suspects/victims, and no stipulated crimes if and when the police act in violation of these laws, thus violating the rights of people that Parliament intended to protect.
Has the Coroner even began investigation?
Interestingly, media reports never mentioned whether the Coroner has even started his/her inquiry into this death. The law is clear that the Coroner must inquire into every death in Malaysia, and the coroner, who is a Magistrate or Sessions Court Judge, someone independent of the police, who will ultimately make a finding after an enquiry/inquest whether the police was criminally liable for the death of the man shot dead by the police. MADPET calls on the Chief Justice Tengku Maimun binti Tuan Mat to look into this matter, to ensure that the Coroners are doing their jobs professionally.
Police DO Lie – Coroner, EAIC, SUHAKAM has made findings of this
Police do LIE. It is important to recall that it was reported that the Coroner did before find the police criminally liable for causing death of suspects.
On 31/5/2023 that the coroner’s court, presided by Coroner Rasyihah Ghazali, that inquired into the ‘police shooting that resulted in death of 3, ‘…. concluded that there was abuse of power and elements of a criminal nature in the death of three men who were shot at close range by police three years ago. “The shots were not fired in self-defense. There was abuse of power and (actions in the nature of) criminal elements by police in the death of the men,”(FMT, 31/5/2022). Were these police officers even subsequently charged in court?
How many other Coroners came to a conclusion that the police were criminally liable for the deaths in police shooting cases? Unfortunately, Media fails to report Coroner’s findings, and neither is there a place or website where the public can find the Coroners’ findings, especially in police shooting cases that resulted in deaths, or in deaths in custody. MADPET calls on the Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution to be transparent and disclose this information to the public. Ministers should not be waiting to answer ONLY when the question are asked in Parliament.
MADPET calls for NO ‘cover-up’ of this police shooting incident that resulted in death. Anyone, who broke the law, including the police, must be charged and accorded a fair trial, and, if convicted, sentenced according the law, and there should be a deterrent sentence when the criminal is a law enforcement officer or public officer. There should be no ‘selective’ non-prosecution.
MADPET calls for the Coroner to speedily and thoroughly investigate this death without fear or favour. We call for all Coroner findings of police shot dead cases to be transparently disclosed.
MADPET calls on the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (SUHAKAM) to immediately investigate, better still conduct a public inquiry, into this death by reason of police shooting.
We find it is useless to call on Independent Police Conduct Commission (IPCC) to inquire into this, as the IPCC is essentially a ‘sorting house’ that will simply send it back to the police to act on it. The IPCC does not even have the power to investigate or conduct a public inquiry, or even publish a report of its findings. The EAIC (Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission) was better as they investigated and published their findings on many cases involving the police, including Death in Custody. The IPCC Act abolished the EAIC’s jurisdiction over the police.
It was most disappointing when on 1/7/2023 the Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution decided to simply put IPCC Act into force, when it would have been so much better that the government re-tabled the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) Bill, which was tabled by the previous Pakatan Harapan government, with the incorporations of amendments proposed by the Parliamentary Committees that would have made it a better IPCMC. The IPCC Act could have been repealed. MADPET is totally disappointed with what Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, from Pakatan Harapan, that effectively buried the IPCMC.
MADPET calls for the abolition of the IPCC Act, and call for the establishment of an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), that will have the power to investigate, and also prosecute police officers who broke the law. If the IPCMC existed, they could have also independently investigated cases of police shooting that caused deaths.
Charles Hector
For and on behalf of MADPET(Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture)
Summary
Close to 100 Indonesians protest outside the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta over a shooting incident in Selangor.
Angry over the Jan 24 incident that saw one Indonesian killed and four others injured, the protesters pelt eggs at Malaysia’s national emblem and demand justice.
Protesters pelted eggs at the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta yesterday as dozens rallied in anger over the Jan 24 shooting of five Indonesians in Selangor, which saw one of them killed.
According to news reports, close to 100 protesters gathered in front of the embassy premises, with some holding banners urging authorities to arrest and charge Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) officers who opened fire at the men during the incident at Malaysian waters off Tanjung Rhu beach in Selangor.
Kompas.com reported that protesters then pelted eggs at the embassy premises, which landed on Malaysia's national emblem and the front gate.
The protest was held a day after the body of the man killed in the shooting was repatriated and buried in his hometown in Riau. He was identified as a 50-year-old migrant worker.
The 3am incident happened when the five men allegedly used a boat to ram a Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) patrol boat before trying to attack law enforcement officers using machetes.
According to the police, MMEA officers had to open fire in self-defence.
While
police said they are investigating the incident, the Indonesian Foreign
Affairs Ministry said two of the men refuted Malaysian authorities'
version and claimed that there was no resistance using sharp weapons. - Malaysiakini, 31/1/2025
Prabowo trusts Malaysia's probe into migrant worker shooting
- January 30, 2025 20:44 GMT+700
"We are certain that Malaysia will carry out the best investigation," he said here on Thursday.
According to Prabowo, the issue was discussed during his recent meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in Kuala Lumpur.
"In broad outline, yes we discussed it," he confirmed, without providing any further details.
A group of Indonesian migrants was shot at by APMM officers while reportedly attempting to leave Malaysia illegally through the waters of Tanjung Rhu, Selangor, on January 24, 2025.
One worker died and four others were injured in the incident.
The Malaysian authorities claimed the shooting happened when the five Indonesian migrant workers tried to resist arrest.
The ministry's director of protection of Indonesian citizens, Judha Nugraha, emphasized there was no resistance from the migrants, based on the accounts of the four survivors, who are currently being treated at Klang Hospital in Malaysia.
Two of the four injured Indonesians were in stable condition when they provided a chronology of the shooting to representatives of the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
Both said the Indonesian workers did not try to resist arrest by wielding sharp weapons.
Hence, Nugraha said, Indonesia has demanded a thorough investigation into the shooting, including the possibility of excessive use of force by the Malaysian authorities.
He also asked the embassy's retainer lawyer to review and prepare future legal steps to follow up on the issue. - Antara News, 30/1/2025
Shooting off Morib that killed one, injured 4, classified as attempted murder
KUALA LUMPUR: Police believe that a shooting incident in the waters off Morib Beach was the result of a confrontation between foreigners and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA).
The incident left one person dead and four others injured.
Selangor police chief Datuk Hussein Omar Khan told Bernama that preliminary investigations revealed the incident occurred after an MMEA patrol boat was rammed four times by another boat, believed to belong to the suspects.
In the incident, two suspects, believed to be foreigners aboard the boat, allegedly attempted to attack MMEA officers with machetes in the waters of Tanjung Rhu around 3am the same day.
"MMEA officers fired several shots at the suspects' boat in self-defence. However, the suspects managed to flee under the cover of darkness," Hussein said.
He added that at 9am the same day, the MMEA received a tip-off from the public about a boat adrift along the coast of Pantai Banting in Kuala Langat.
The MMEA located the boat and found two men inside. One was pronounced dead at the scene, while the other was critically injured and was rushed to Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang for treatment.
Hussein also confirmed that police received a report regarding three men, suspected to be foreign nationals, who sustained gunshot wounds. They had sought treatment at the Sultan Idris Shah Hospital in Serdang.
He stated that the report was lodged by a medical officer at the hospital's Emergency Department, who was on duty at the time. All three victims were received at 7.30am.
"The three were conscious and had sustained injuries consistent with gunshot wounds," he said.
Hussein added that the case was being investigated under Section 307 of the Penal Code for attempted murder. The case was also being investigated under Section 186 of the Penal Code for obstructing civil servants from discharging their duties.
It was reported yesterday that Hussein had confirmed that a shooting incident had taken place in the waters off Morib Beach in Kuala Langat, Selangor.
At press time, Hussein said the identity of the deceased had yet to be determined and that the injured suspects were believed to be Indonesians.
State Maritime director, Maritime Captain Abdul Muhaimin Muhammad Salleh, in a separate statement, confirmed that a man was found dead and another injured aboard a fibre boat found adrift by the MMEA southwest of Carey Island yesterday morning.
Muhaimin said the blue boat was found approximately 0.4 nautical miles from the island and had no registration number. - NST, 25/1/2025
