Legislating To Be Humane?
The recent case of the 11 Chinese men having their head shaved bald under police detention, after being arrested for mahjong gambling over Chinese New Year, really riled me up.
Most of them were senior citizens and were visibly non-threatening. They were not hardcore criminals - they were gambling over Chinese New Year (which is pretty much a done thing, with many Chinese families, over CNY) in a commercial premise. Yes, fair enough, it's against the law - but do they have to be treated like hardcore criminals and meted out a pre-trial "deterrent" act of punishment?
The reply from senior official at the relevant police headquarters said that, I quote: "shaving the heads of detainees is normal procedure. We just want them to look neat and remember, it is so that they will not return to the lock-up".
There you have it. From the horse's mouth. The Gestapo would have been proud.
Did I forget to mention that for the recent nude squats issue, there was not even a coded procedure written down anywhere? The procedure differed according to which police precinct that you ended up at and what is the "standard practice" applied there.
I'm tired of seeing the police blaming the law for acts which are indecent, inhumane or just a pure breach of the individual rights of detainees.
Just because the law says that you can do it (and we're taking a big leap here and assuming that the law DOES say so) - doesn't mean you should do it. Every case is unique and there is no one size fits all, when it comes to application of the law. To apply the law blindly in that way, may lead to many abuses and is a manifest miscarriage of justice.
If all that is needed from law enforcement officers is an automaton who will implement laws, without applying thought, consideration or discretion over the context and legality of the situation - then by God, let's have robots running our law enforcement. Why employ human beings? (Other than the fact that Robocops do not yet exist, of course)
What is happening to this society? Do we have to legislate, to teach others to be humane and compassionate? Or just purely decent (like not molesting a teenage girl in public, because she's skimpily dressed?)
Do we have to scour the law (and areas where the law has not yet covered and is currently, arbitrarily practised according to the "adat" in each police precinct) to ensure that there are no vague provisions that would leave ourselves, our wives, our siblings, our children, our friends, vulnerable to the abuse and violations meted out by those who were entrusted to protect us against such conduct?
Yes, there are many good cops out there and we thank them for their dedication in upholding the law and public peace.
But there are many "bad seeds" coming out of the woodworks and the public must be able to see that the good portion of the cops, don't condone such behaviour by their wayward counterparts - under the pretext of procedure - written, unwritten or purely imagined.
It is a great injustice to the good ones in the police force and worse still, it breeds distrust by the public, of the police force. The perception is there that cops can also be "pseudo-criminals", depending on whom you unfortunate enough to encounter.
Power exercised, without proper procedure, manners, thought and discretion and proper observation of the spirit behind the law - can be a form of tyranny against the public.
It's not right that we have to fear the police force and be afraid of being victimized in our own country - the integrity of the law will be undermined, if the perception is that, those who apply the executive arm of the law - are acting like thugs or criminals, themselves.
And it leads to a counter-reaction - one which inevitably leads everyone to either breach the law or take matters into "extra-legal" territory. Or worse still, an endless string of public commissions set up on taxpayer's money, reacting to every single abuse of power by the police.
And that is a recipe for public chaos and distrust. If the watchdogs of society have to be monitored all the time - then they're not serving their purpose!
Weed out the "bad seeds" in your force, PDRM. The public needs to have faith in the police force.
Most of them were senior citizens and were visibly non-threatening. They were not hardcore criminals - they were gambling over Chinese New Year (which is pretty much a done thing, with many Chinese families, over CNY) in a commercial premise. Yes, fair enough, it's against the law - but do they have to be treated like hardcore criminals and meted out a pre-trial "deterrent" act of punishment?
The reply from senior official at the relevant police headquarters said that, I quote: "shaving the heads of detainees is normal procedure. We just want them to look neat and remember, it is so that they will not return to the lock-up".
There you have it. From the horse's mouth. The Gestapo would have been proud.
Did I forget to mention that for the recent nude squats issue, there was not even a coded procedure written down anywhere? The procedure differed according to which police precinct that you ended up at and what is the "standard practice" applied there.
I'm tired of seeing the police blaming the law for acts which are indecent, inhumane or just a pure breach of the individual rights of detainees.
Just because the law says that you can do it (and we're taking a big leap here and assuming that the law DOES say so) - doesn't mean you should do it. Every case is unique and there is no one size fits all, when it comes to application of the law. To apply the law blindly in that way, may lead to many abuses and is a manifest miscarriage of justice.
If all that is needed from law enforcement officers is an automaton who will implement laws, without applying thought, consideration or discretion over the context and legality of the situation - then by God, let's have robots running our law enforcement. Why employ human beings? (Other than the fact that Robocops do not yet exist, of course)
What is happening to this society? Do we have to legislate, to teach others to be humane and compassionate? Or just purely decent (like not molesting a teenage girl in public, because she's skimpily dressed?)
Do we have to scour the law (and areas where the law has not yet covered and is currently, arbitrarily practised according to the "adat" in each police precinct) to ensure that there are no vague provisions that would leave ourselves, our wives, our siblings, our children, our friends, vulnerable to the abuse and violations meted out by those who were entrusted to protect us against such conduct?
Yes, there are many good cops out there and we thank them for their dedication in upholding the law and public peace.
But there are many "bad seeds" coming out of the woodworks and the public must be able to see that the good portion of the cops, don't condone such behaviour by their wayward counterparts - under the pretext of procedure - written, unwritten or purely imagined.
It is a great injustice to the good ones in the police force and worse still, it breeds distrust by the public, of the police force. The perception is there that cops can also be "pseudo-criminals", depending on whom you unfortunate enough to encounter.
Power exercised, without proper procedure, manners, thought and discretion and proper observation of the spirit behind the law - can be a form of tyranny against the public.
It's not right that we have to fear the police force and be afraid of being victimized in our own country - the integrity of the law will be undermined, if the perception is that, those who apply the executive arm of the law - are acting like thugs or criminals, themselves.
And it leads to a counter-reaction - one which inevitably leads everyone to either breach the law or take matters into "extra-legal" territory. Or worse still, an endless string of public commissions set up on taxpayer's money, reacting to every single abuse of power by the police.
And that is a recipe for public chaos and distrust. If the watchdogs of society have to be monitored all the time - then they're not serving their purpose!
Weed out the "bad seeds" in your force, PDRM. The public needs to have faith in the police force.
posted by Stingrayz | 5:16 PM
7 Comments:
perhaps what pdrm needs to do is seek advice from Ishak, ha ha ha! have you recovered from his sagely advice?
Dinzie:
Unlike PDRM, I have a problem looking like a dangerous bad-ass dude. That's why they don't need Ishak and I do. Hahaha! ;)
well if it makes you feel better, i tend to get psychotic obsessive men. haiyah. what do i do?! yes, i the magnet for such types, ended up with one from the party last night. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Dinzie:
Which one lah? :D
M not in the position to complain about the PDRM right now, as a yummy-looking police officer had let me go with just a warning last CNY eve as I had gone straight on a left-turn lane near KLCC. Semua Citibank punya pasal... sapa suruh pindah kat situ...
Eh.. Is that why Shrzl is botak and was walking around with a cane and shades?
lol!
Noni Pemiutang:
The police officer must have found you yummy too, to have let you go. :)
JD:
Naaaah. He's going for the Ray Charles look! ;)
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