A Prisoner's Ordeal In Our Democratic Nation Celebrating 50 Years of Independence

The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) has condemnned the beating of a 33-year-old inmate in Tapah Prison by several warders as a "violation of human rights", The Star update reports.

Suhakam commissioner Datuk N. Siva Subramaniam, who met Chow Kok Joon during his visit to Tapah Prison here on Friday with prison and police officials, said he saw clear signs that the prisoner had suffered a "brutal attack". It was reported that Chow, who is serving a 30-month jail sentence for a drug offence, had to be warded for four days after he was beaten three times for urinating on the field during morning exercise on July 16.

"He had multiple wounds all over his back and both his legs, and the marks remained there even three weeks after the incident," he told reporters. "When I asked him why he did it, he said a fellow prisoner told him that he could urinate on the grass field," he said, adding that initial findings showed at least four warders had been involved in the attack.

Siva said that at the very least, the prisoner should be told politely what he had done wrong and that any discipline meted out should be humane. He pointed out that the assault could also bring psychological damage to the prisoner, especially since Chow had to undergo psychiatric treatment before.

Siva attributed the problem to stress and recommended that all prison warders in Malaysia undergo ongoing stress tests and compulsory stress management courses. He said this was because many prison warders were overworked because of a critical national shortage of warders, numbering in the thousands. "In Tapah Prison alone, there are only 490 warders and officers to manage 2,700 prisoners. By rights, the ratio should be one warder for every three prisoners, so there should be around 800 warders," he noted.

Siva praised Tapah OCPD Supt Roslan Bek Ahmad’s swift action in appointing a senior investigating officer to look into the case and getting Chow to lodge a police report. Siva noted that Tapah Prison officials had started an internal inquiry on the matter the same day of the incident, and that a report has been sent to the Prisons Department last week. "Suhakam was also told that the Department would take firm disciplinary action against those responsible," he added.

However, he expressed unhappiness at the Tapah Prison medical personnel who had submitted a report to the Tapah Hospital stating that Chow became injured after he "fell down". "This report was not professional at all," he said.

On July 16, warders had allegedly punished Chow by kicking and punching him at the field, then caned him across his back with sticks and canes at the prison’s Damai dormitory block. Later, Chow was allegedly brought to the Unit Keselamatan Penjara office where he was again beaten and had pepper spray shot into his eyes. Some five hours after the first beating, Kok Joon fainted during roll call at about 2pm and then rushed to the hospital.

***** Zainuddin Maidin should now lash out at The Star for releasing this goblok type of news especially during this period of celebrating Merdeka. Better still why not make a police report at the infamous Dang Wangi station against this newspaper? If he does not know how to word the report, he could always consult Mat Tyson alias Muhammad 2X for guidance.

While on the subject he should also make a note of the Suhakam commissioner Datuk N. Siva Subramaniam who spoke openly on this. Zam should ensure that the commissioner does not get another term in Suhakam. These people give our squeaky clean democratic country a bad name.
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