Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi must immediately form the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), said Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) today.
Following the latest custodial death involving a 22-year-old youth, the opposition party pointed out that there is just no more room for excuses or reasons.
Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) views the death of A. Kugan under police custody as a serious crime and a violation to human rights, particularly the right to life under Article 5 of the Federal Constitution.
The death of A. Kugan is not an isolated case and it is the total failure of the Government to give protection to those kept under its custody. We are further angered by the fact that the Police are now trying to divert the issue from death in custody to tampering with evidence of the body of the victim. The CPO of Selangor Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar has also sort of concluded that the bruises in the body of the victim did not cause his death. With such kind of attitude, it would be useless and a waste of public funds to get the police to investigate this death. The CPO should be immediately disciplined for his action and removed completely from this case for interfering in the investigation.
Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) lashed out at Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar over his ‘double standards and lies’ regarding the arrest of 21 participants in last Saturday’s anti-war candlelight vigil.
Secretary-general S Arutchelvan said PSM was bemused at Syed Hamid’s attempt to defend the police’s action, claiming that it was a ‘cheap stunt’ aimed at creating ‘disunity’ among the people.
Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM), one of the main organizer of the Coalition Against War (GAP-Gabungan Anti Perang) who organized five anti war vigil on Saturday, 10 January to highlight the plight of the sufferings in Gaza and Sri Lanka is amused by the way how the Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar goes out to defend the police’ arrest of the 21 people at the candlelight vigil, saying that the demonstrators were not concerned with the issue of Israeli aggression. This is cheap stunt to create disunity among the people.
The police have arrested 21 people, including Klang MP Charles Santiago and several top leaders of PSM, at an anti-war vigil at Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur.
The vigil was organised by Anti-War Coalition to show support to the victims of war and aggression in Palestine and Sri Lanka.
About 200 people had gathered at about 8pm for the vigil, which was declared illegal by the police who were also present at the venue.
Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said (NST, 9 January 2009) that nearly all schoolchildren about five million pupils in the country will be mobilised to protest against the Gaza offensive by Israeli forces.
When I first read this article, a number of questions rang in my mind. Would asking students including primary school children to attend a protest and demonstration be deemed exploiting the children? Do the children have consent from their parents as it seems that the Minister had made the decision without even consulting the parents? Would the police/AG charge the Minister under the Child Act? Would the Minister be expelled from Parliament for involving children? For the state of Selangor, would the CPO of Selangor rescue these children and return them to their parents? While waiting for their parents, will they be kept protected in the police station under the care of the welfare Department ? Would the parents be later called by the police for their statement to be recorded for allowing the Minister to use their children for the protest?
Statement by PSM in solidarity with the People of Palestine
# The Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) condemns Israel for its latest massive assault on the Palestinian people.
# Israel began its latest round of barbaric assault on 27 December 2008, by launching air strikes followed by land offensives, which aimed to destroy every aspect of civilised life in Gaza. The death toll in Gaza has reached over 500, while thousands have been wounded in the barbaric attacks of the Israeli armed forces.
# The latest massacre has been carefully planned by the Zionist regime of Israel, attempting to destroy Hamas, the organisation that leads the struggle of the Palestinian people against its oppression. Hamas won the Palestinian election in January 2006. The recent assault is not a response to Hamas’ rocket attacks as Israel claims, but rather a pre-planned ethnic cleansing to purge Arab Palestinians, and overthrow a democratically elected Hamas administration, with backing from imperialist powers like the United States.
# This is not the first time the Zionist apartheid regime of Israel has committed an act of genocide, but this time it has been far more ruthless than before.
# Israel’s economic blockade of Gaza since June 2007 has cut off supplies of the most basic needs, such as food, water and medicine. The continuous blockade has turned Gaza Strip into the largest concentration camp in the world with a 1.5 million starving population imprisoned within its border.
# Hamas had agreed to a ceasefire with Israel in June 2008 to try to bring humanitarian relief to the population of Gaza. But Israel’s refusal to allow sufficient aid into Gaza, along with its continued attacks on Palestinian, have hampered the process.
# Israel’s new round of slaughter on the Palestinian people has deepened the humanitarian crisis in Gaza Strip.
# Fewer than 20 Israelis have been killed by Qassam rockets fired from Gaza since 2001. Nearly 500 people in Gaza have been killed by Israeli state violence in just a week, and the death toll is expected to increase as the Israeli offensive continues. Palestinians have chosen to resist with largely home-made rockets, their occupiers who practise apartheid, while the Israeli Zionist state, well-equipped with imperialist killing machines, has responded by collectively punishing the impoverished population of Gaza. Collective punishment is a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention (GCIV) which Israel has become part of 60 years ago upon its formation.
# Besides the Zionist Israeli state – a racist state founded on the mass expulsion of the Palestinians, its imperialist ally – the US and other western imperialist powers, are equally responsible for the ongoing slaughter of the Palestinian people. The US government has supplied Israel with the world’s most modern weapons including F-16 fighter jets, Apache attack helicopters, missiles and bombs which have been used by the Israeli armed forces during the attacks on the people in Gaza. The US government has planned to provide Israel with an average USD 3 billion a year in military aid for the next decade.
# US support for Israel is part of the imperialist desire to dominate the Middle East region. In the midst of defeats of US in both Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as its failure to contain Iran, US under the outgoing Bush administration has chosen to back Israel. The recent assault on Gaza would show both Israel and US still possessing the power to bully weaker governments in the region and to warn disobedient governments like Iran and Syria.
# The question is why does the US President-elect Barack Obama who will be inaugurated on 20 January 2009 seem to be keeping a low profile on the recent slaughter in Gaza. Will the Obama administration makes a difference in the Middle East by breaking away from the US imperialist strategy which was embraced by previous presidents?
# PSM extends its solidarity to the people of Palestine in their struggle against Israel’s apartheid regime and imperialism.
# PSM demands the following:
## Israel must immediately end the siege of Gaza, stop its aggression and pull out all its troops from territories of the Palestinian Authority
## US must stop all its military aid to Israel and impose arms embargo against Israel
## US needs to end its “War on Terror” by immediately withdrawing its military from Iraq and Afghanistan
# The people of Palestine have the rights to determine their future through democratic process from below.
# The resistance of the ordinary people of Palestine against the Zionist regime of Israel is a resistance against the barbaric system of global capitalism and a struggle against imperialism. The struggle of the Palestinian people is our struggle.
# A lasting peace in the Middle East will only prevail if justice is upheld for the Palestinian people and imperialism is defeated. It is only a global mass movement of ordinary people from below that can defeat imperialism.
Down with Racism and Imperialism!
Hands Off Gaza!
Long live Resistance!
Released by,
Choo Chon Kai
International Bureau
Socialist Party of Malaysia / Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)
(Phone: +60-19-5669518)
PSM is calling for candle light vigils in solidarity with the people of Palestine on 10 January 2009 (Saturday), at Kuala Lumpur, Perak, Penang and Johor.
For more information, please contact: Kuala Lumpur (Sevan – 016-9708370) , Perak (Sugu – 012-5061357), Penang (Kris – 016-3337678) and Johor (Choo – 012-7097721)
Pada hari ini, sejarah rakyat yang baru tercipta di Cameron Highlands. Kuasa rakyat akhirnya berjaya mendapatkan pertemuan dengan Pegawai Daerah Cameron Highlands.
