Interview: Part 3
Former policeman Kuan Chee Heng might abhor criminals as a menace to society, but he has harsher words to describe the judiciary system which seems to benefit criminals.
In the third part of an exclusive interview with Komunitikini, Kuan hits out at the judiciary system that grants bail to criminals easily and lawyers who take up criminal case for personal or political mileage.
The Selangor community policing founder cited a case he handled before, where a robber who was released on bail, blatantly pledged to rob shops again.
“The police arrested the suspect and charged him in court. But then a group of lawyers came to ask for bail, saying the suspect had no criminal record,”
“The justice granted a bail. So I asked the suspect what he is going to do after this, he said he would rob again,”
“He (the suspect) said the legal fees alone was RM10,000, and his bail was another RM5000. So he had to pay RM15,000, and he did not have a job. So of course he needs to rob again,” said Kuan.
On respecting police and apolitical police
Kuan claims that some lawyers will spend time to deliberate whether the defendant was assaulted by the police, instead of focusing on the defendant’s crime in court.
“Is it correct? When police work so hard to charge the suspect in court, this is what they get?” he said.
He said that while the Bar Council’s action to pressure the government in recognising human rights is fitting, certain groups are overprotecting criminals.
“There was one instance where a group of eight students brought sharp weapons into the school compound, ready for war. The police got a wind of it and kept them in a police station,”
“They were just form two students, so the police just intended to keep them until midnight, record a statement each, and release them,”
“Then suddenly some politicians came to the police station and demanded that the police release them,”
“This should not happen, because the boy will get the wrong message, as if they are a protected species,” he said.
He lamented that criminals nowadays seem to enjoy more rights than the ordinary citizen.
“They have no qualm in attacking our old women, old men and children. Why should we have qualm to put them behind bars?” he asked.
However, when asked about the detention of the six Parti Socialis Malaysia’s members under Emergency Ordinance, Kuan said this should be avoided.
“The police must not be a political tool, as simple as that. They cannot be a tool to any political party, neither should they be the punching bag,” he said.
Fix a time frame for report-making
On a side note, he also urged the police to fix a timeframe for the public to lodge a report.
He said the public, who are already a victim of a crime, are often made to “wait like a fool” in the police station.
“When they go back home, they also need to wait for the fingerprint dusting official to come before they can clean the house,”
“So obviously they need to increase their technical team to shorten the time of making a report,” he said.
Interview: Part 1 – A community knows its criminals best
Interview: Part 2 – Chinese merchants the target of local criminals
image courtesy to activedabawenya.blogspot.com
CJMY
C. Khor
