http://dapmalaysia.org  

DAPSY strongly oppose the proposal to arm the enforcement officers as this will give them larger authority and empowered them to take the life of others when their authority should only confine to confiscate illegal goods and enforce law limited to their Ministry Press Statement by Loke Siew Fook (Petaling Jaya, Thursday):  DAPSY strongly oppose the proposal to arm the enforcement officers as this will give them larger authority and empowered them to take the life of others when their authority should only confine to confiscate illegal goods and enforce law limited to their Ministry. Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has announced that the enforcement officers of his Ministry will be provided with firearms when conducting raids and inspection on illegal VCD operators and pirated goods. The Minister said that firearms are needed by the enforcement officers as a "real war" has started as they faced life-threatening situations during their operations. DAPSY strongly oppose the proposal to arm the enforcement officers as this will give them larger authority and empowered them to take the life of others when their authority should only confine to confiscate illegal goods and enforce law limited to their Ministry. Furthermore, do the enforcement officers given enough training and emotionally prepared to handle firearms? There were many allegations in the past that even some policemen who went through stringent trainings and psychological tests has acted trigger-happy in their operations and how the Ministry can give the assurance that their officers who just have a short training are able to handle their firearms well? There were even allegations that some unarmed enforcement officers at the local council level has acted violently against vendors during their operations and what will happen if they are given arms? DAPSY are not protecting the illegal VCD vendors and we are supportive of the efforts of the Ministry to clamp down on illegal VCDs to protect and uphold the copyrights of the original artists. We also respect the rights to safety of the enforcement officers but it should not be by way of arming them. The right thing that the Ministry should do is to coordinate with the police force and involve them in all the operations so that the police can control the situations, ensure the safety of the enforcement officers and act when necessary. By having the police to ensure the safety aspect, the enforcement officers can concentrate on their main duty that is to confiscate illegal goods and there is no need for them to carry an extra burden by having firearms. (16/1/2003) * Loke Siew Fook, DAPSY National Secretary