KL's men in blue under fire again

Failure to follow proper procedures blamed for the murder of two policemen during a drug raid

The Straits Times, October 28, 2007
By Chow Kum Hor



MALAYSIA CORRESPONDENT KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIAN police have suffered another blow to their image after it emerged that two policemen killed during a drug raid had apparently not followed proper procedures.

Two other police officers were seriously hurt during the operation at a house in Sungai Buloh, Selangor, whose occupants were suspected of producing drugs for an international market.

In rare comments against the police, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi said 'the approach used (in the raid) was not right'. He said there was no back-up squad to cordon off the area, the New Straits Times quoted him as saying on Friday.

Mr Tian Chua, leader of the opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat, said that as a uniformed body, the police should know the importance of abiding by standard operating procedures.

'It is an unfortunate incident. But now, it looks like the police have no more image left when they could not even follow their own procedures,' he told The Straits Times.

He said the fatal incident suggested that policemen were taking dangerous operations lightly. This could be due to low morale among the men in blue, he added.

In the Thursday night shooting, Lance Corporals K. Jayabalan from the Gombak police headquarters and M. Alagesan, 41, from the City police headquarters were killed by three gunmen who alighted from a vehicle just as the policemen were about to ambush the house.

Chief inspectors Helmi Zakaria from the Gombak Narcotics Department and R. Rajakumar from the Commercial Crime Department were seriously injured. Their conditions are now stable.

Inspector-general of police Musa Hassan has ordered a thorough investigation into what actually happened, including finding out if the officers were part of the taskforce investigating the drug syndicate case.

'It is not unusual for officers and men from different departments to be involved,' he said.

Of late, several blunders by the Malaysian police have dented its image.

In the rape and murder of eight-year-old Nurin Jazlin Jazimin, post-mortem pictures of her battered body were circulated on the Internet, sparking public outcry over lax monitoring by the police.

But the police threatened to charge those forwarding the pictures online instead of focusing on identifying the culprit who leaked the photos.

Nurin's case has also not been solved despite a string of arrests. Even Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail is perplexed as to why the police were unable to solve the crime which had shocked the nation.

'It creates a bad impression of the police and the system,' he said.

And last month, four plainclothes policemen beat up an Indonesian who they thought was an illegal immigrant. But it turned out that the Indonesian was in Malaysia as a referee in a karate championship. The incident sparked a diplomatic row between Malaysia and Indonesia.

Meanwhile, police have launched a massive manhunt for the cop-killers.

Selangor police chief Khalid Abu Bakar was quoted in Bernama as saying that four suspects, including a woman, were involved.

'Following some fresh leads, we expect to get them soon,' Datuk Khalid said.

The police have beefed up checks at border crossings in case the gunmen try to flee the country. Several roadblocks have been set up in border towns and photo profiles of the suspects have been distributed.



'It is an unfortunate incident. But now, it looks like the police have no more image left when it could not even follow its own procedures.'
OPPOSITION LEADER TIAN CHUA, on the attack that killed Lance Corporals K. Jayabalan and M. Alagesan