PETALING JAYA: Two civic groups have urged Penang police chief Shuhaily Mohd Zain to respond to a claim that he roughed up a policeman more than six years ago.
Spokesmen for Eliminating Deaths and Abuse in Custody Together (Edict) and Citizens Against Enforced Disappearances made the call in reference to a police report filed in November 2015 that was recently brought up by whistleblower Twitter account Edisi Siasat.
In the report, a lance corporal at the Hilir Perak district police station claims that he was berated by Shuhaily, who was then the district police chief, after he failed to salute him as his car passed a guard post.
He alleged that Shuhaily hit him on the left shoulder and this embarrassed him and affected his emotions and could affect his morale and productivity at work.
He also claimed that Shuhaily threatened to reassign him to Sabah or Sarawak.
FMT has contacted Shuhaily’s office to get his comment.
Khalid Ismath, the spokesman for Edict, urged Shuhaily to quickly address the allegation.
He said Shuhaily should file a civil suit against the complainant if his claims were false.
“We urge Bukit Aman to take prompt action to investigate this matter,” he told FMT.
“At the same time, Shuhaily must answer this allegation as the complainant made the police report many years ago. He must be suspended during the investigation.”
Khalid said it was worrying that a figure of authority was being accused of thuggish behaviour when he was supposed to look after the security of the public.
He called for the establishment of an independent body to probe the case if police did not proceed with an investigation.
Citizens Against Enforced Disappearances spokesman Rama Ramanathan told FMT he would like to know the outcome of the police probe on the report lodged in 2015.
He said the Parliamentary Select Committee on Agencies under the Prime Minister’s Department should call up Inspector-General of Police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani and the home minister, who is the Police Force Commission chairman, to explain the matter.
He urged the commission to tell the public whether police reports were considered when evaluating candidates for promotion.