I call upon the Minister of Home Affairs to direct a probe into complaints made over the alleged treatment of illegal immigrants by rapper Namewee recently.
The police are reported to have dismissed his claims of allegedly deplorable conditions in the lock-ups demanding that he lodge a police report before a probe could begin.
I find that response of the police to be somewhat strange and bereft of substance.
Firstly, there can be no need for a police report to be lodged for an internal probe into conditions of detention in police custody to be carried out.
Second, if there is a need for a police report to be lodged, then why can’t the police lodge that report themselves so as to probe the matter in full?
We are talking about detentions here. A complaint has been made. And a very serious one indeed.
The police shouldn’t merely respond with a challenge for a police report to be lodged. That cannot be enough.
The police dismissing those complaints summarily would not inspire confidence either as there would appear to be a conflict of interest in that the complaints are against the police themselves.
As Member of Parliament, I therefore call upon Dato’ Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to rise to the occasion and to direct that a police report be lodged over the matter. It is his ministry which is responsible for the prisons and lockups in the country and it is his ministry which must respond to questions over this matter in Parliament when it next sits.
Most importantly, on humanitarian grounds and for the sake of making absolutely sure no one is subject to inhumane and or degrading treatment in detention, the Minister must, to my mind, take immediate steps to probe the matter and make the necessary corrections if need be.