Treat detainees with dignity

By Terence Fernandez, The Sun

DOING the graveyard shift in The Malay Mail where I started in this business 15 years ago, one had to be prepared for the “invitations” by enforcement bodies for pre-dawn raids. Usually, the reporters and photographers would be asked to congregate at a meeting point an hour before the operation, where we got to mingle with the top brass who would give us a list of dos and don’ts over coffee.

Asking reporters to tag along on these operations does help the agencies with their image. It is a laudable effort to be transparent and open. Mind you, there have been many hair-raising moments as suspected illegals whizz past you half naked as immigration officers run after them or drug addicts stumble into you while escaping the police.

Hilarious moments include a woman who entered a Black Maria after police busted a gambling party in Chow Kit and whacked her detained husband with her slippers, demanding a divorce there and then.

On some occasions, pressmen end up being part of the raiding party like the time when a cameraman decided to trip a fleeing addict, and yours truly was asked to drive three underage girls (escorted by a policewoman) to the Jalan Bandar police station following a raid on an illegal racing syndicate.

Most times in our presence (or because of it), the detainees are treated with a fair amount of regard for their basic human rights. Usually, they are told to squat while they are being processed. And the officers understandably speak to them in stern tones.

Underage detainees are processed first so that they can be released into the custody of their parents, while those whose urine samples test positive for substance abuse are usually sent to a lock-up, awaiting their day in court.

Now, one may be wondering why this trip down memory lane? This was prompted by the recent episode of two Singaporean women who have accused immigration officers of subjecting them to a nude squat; and the banding of female patrons of a nightclub in Penang following a raid.

Truth be told, the women detained in these raids are subject to snide remarks and the ogling eyes of some of the enforcers and yes, even some in the media corps. Cameras would be flashing as soon as patrons are paraded.

Somehow, there is this belief among some news people that a photograph of a handcuffed woman wearing a miniskirt squatting by the sidewalk will help sell papers. It does not matter that she could be underage or that she is an innocent patron who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, she is immediately “branded” as loose or a prostitute and herded with the rest into the waiting vans and trucks to be processed.

Over the years, many editors, including those at theSun have emphasised on good taste and that one is innocent until proven otherwise. This means we must encourage better treatment of women detainees – be they foreign or Malaysian.

Over the years, we have heard of horror stories involving women in custody – one foreigner alleged she was raped by a police officer in Ampang; another one was forced to relieve herself inside a truck when a policeman refused to allow her to use the bathroom; one was made to perform a nude squat at the Petaling Jaya police station; and the allegations of abuse at the detention camp for illegal immigrants have put this country in the same list as other nations notorious for human rights abuses.

While I do not like to generalise, my observations of how detainees, especially women are being treated have made me to conclude that the recent cases at the Causeway and Penang are nothing more than blatant abuse of power.

The authorities can come up with all the reasons in the world – and one sympathises with what they have to endure with the limited manpower and resources. But the fact remains that more can be done to ensure that people are treated with dignity. Such high-handed actions may be deemed necessary by officers on the ground but as far as the taxpayers are concerned, degrading a human being – especially one whose guilt is yet to be determined – is not how we want our ringgit to be spent.

By all means enforce the law but when dealing with vulnerable members of society and womenfolk, there must be a proper standard operating procedure. Anyone who breaches it must be dealt with severely. The image of these agencies and the good men and women who work for them is dependent on it.

One is told that there indeed is a list of dos and don’ts. Alas, in many cases it is thrown out in favour of efficiency, efficacy and the whims of some bad apples who want to assert their power over the vulnerable.

As the government cannot afford anymore lawsuits, perhaps it is time to dust off these procedures and drum them into the heads of those who may one day hold a person’s dignity in their hands.