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Media Statement (2)         
by Lim Kit Siang  
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(Parliament, Saturday): Malaysians are shocked and revolted by the cold-blooded killing of two police inspectors, L/Kpl K. Jayabalan from the Gombak police and detective L/Kpl M. Alagesan from the city police headquarters during a drug bust in Sungai Buloh on Thursday night and the killers must be hunted down and brought to justice.

Deepest condolences to the families of the two cops who died in the course of duty. It is both an outrage and tragedy that their families will be grieving instead of having a Deepavali celebration in a fortnight’s time.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also Internal Security Minister, said the deaths of the two police officers during the drug raid could have been avoided if the police had adopted a proper strategy and followed procedures.

The avoidable death of two police officers cannot be taken lightly, and if the Prime Minister is right, then there should be a full inquiry as to why the correct strategy and procedures had not been followed and who were responsible for such negligence resulting in the unnecessary sacrificing of two cops.

Parliament and the nation are entitled to know what lessons are being learnt if the deaths of the two police inspectors were the cause of avoidable negligence and sloppiness on the part of the police in carrying out a drug bust – and what measures the government and the police are taking to help the two bereaved families who are afflicted with the irreplaceable losses.

The Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan blamed the two deaths on the police not having enough bullet-proof vests for his men during special operations and patrols and that that he would be requesting an allocation from the government to buy more bullet-proof vests for the police.

If Musa is right, then this is another outrage where the lives and safety of police are unnecessarily exposed to danger because of not enough bullet-proof vests for police carrying out high-risk duties while the government, including the police force itself, squanders astronomical sums of public funds every year not only for non-essential purposes, but through corruption, criminal breach of trust and a litany of malpractices.
 

(27/10/2007)