Police questioning of students on Interlok
By N. Surendran (VP PKR)
On 7.3.11, three Form Five students of SMK Kuala Kubu Baru were taken to a police station for questioning allegedly because they had tried to return the Interlok textbook to their headmaster.
Reports say that they were then questioned by police at the Kuala Kubu district police headquarters for about 10 hours. The questioning was done in the absence of their parents or lawyer. Shockingly, neither the school authorities nor the police informed the parents of the schoolboys that they were to be questioned by police. School authorities and a representative of the Parent-Teacher association seem to have initiated and collaborated in this incident.
We strongly condemn the police questioning of these children, and the appalling treatment meted out to them. The questioning was blatantly unlawful, as no offence known to law had been committed by them. The interrogation was also in breach of the law as the minors were denied access to parents or lawyers. In fact, at least one of children was explicitly denied permission to call his parents despite pleading to be allowed to do so.
We call upon the Government and the Education Ministry to take immediate steps to prevent a recurrence of events of this nature and to hold an urgent inquiry into the matter. We ask for immediate action to be taken against all police officers who were involved in the unlawful interrogation of these children. Stern discipilnary action must be taken against any teacher found to be complicit in this incident. We call upon the Government to respect the rights of children and to act in accordance with international standards of child rights and protection.
