Aliran is gravely concerned to learn of the deaths of three young men – M Puspanathan, 21, T Poovaneswaran, 24, and G Logeswaran, 29 – in an incident involving the police in Durian Tunggal, Malacca, on 24 November.
According to the Malacca Police chief, “the trio were serial robbers who attacked an officer with a parang”, thus leading to their shooting by the police in self-defence.
Lawyers acting on behalf of the families of the deceased, however, contested and disputed the police version of events at a press conference on 3 December. A video of the press conference has gone viral.
The lawyers alleged that all three men were instead “victims of execution-style killings” and that the police account of the incident was “pure fabrication and complete untruths”. The lawyers produced audio evidence from a wife of one of the victims. They also described how the forensic evidence from one of the victims suggests a downward trajectory for the shooting. The bullet that was lodged in the victim’s heart had its entry wound in his head.
In 2005, the Royal Commission to Enhance the Operation and Management of the Royal Malaysia Police, chaired by former Chief Justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah, made 125 detailed recommendations to reform the police force.
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The core recommendation was for the setting up of an independent police complaints and misconduct commission (IPCMC) to improve professionalism in the force and ensure compliance with the law.
This core recommendation was championed by the Pakatan Harapan government in its electoral campaigns of 2018 and 2022.
Instead, the PH “unity government” allowed the lame-duck and impotent Independent Police Conduct Commission (IPCC), which was enacted the Ismail Sabri Yaakob administration in July 2022, to enter into force in July 2023.
Consequently, the public continues to read about alleged cases of police impunity regularly.
Despite the lack of exact data, Suaram’s annual human rights reports cumulatively documented about 203 deaths in and under police custody from 2011 to 2022.
Little has changed despite 20 years having passed since the Dzaiddin commission report. The three young men shot dead in Durian Tunggal are now additional statistics in an increasingly worrying trend of police impunity – a trend that has not been curbed or reformed by the IPCC, established by this PH government.
The lawyers for the three men’s families made five demands of the government. The Malaysian Bar has called for a full and independent review of the circumstances surrounding the shooting to ensure that all actions taken by law enforcement officers adhered to established protocols and fundamental principles of justice.
The prime minister’s response to the killing is that he has directed the inspector general of police to continue the investigations transparently and without protecting anyone.
Federal CID director M Kumar, in a statement, said that a special team has been established to take over the inquiry, including reviewing police reports made by the families.
While this concern over the issue by the police following public outrage is appreciated, how credible is an internal investigation by the police into its own allegedly incriminated personnel and officers?
Aliran supports the calls for an independent and transparent investigation. But we do not regard these efforts as sufficient.
Instead, Aliran wants to see substantive institutional reforms of the police. The current IPCC has to be dissolved. It is a toothless agency established as a public relations fig leaf to shield the police from accountability.
Aliran thus demands that the PH government lives up to its institutional reform promises made in the 2022 general election to establish the IPCMC in full, as recommended by the Dzaiddin report. Failure to do so will only further erode public trust in the professionalism of the police.
The present PH government has an opportunity here to enact substantive institutional reforms of the police.
Aliran urges the government to do so – NOW!
Background
In April 2025, the Malaysian Bar noted six reported cases of police shootings. In 2024, it reported 35 police shooting incidents across 11 states involving 75 individuals, 36 of whom were killed. This represented a “sharp rise in fatalities and a broader geographic spread compared to 2023”.
Suaram’s Human Rights Report 2024 notes: “Between January 2022 and April 2023, Bukit Aman’s criminal investigation unit for deaths in custody (USJKT) handled 32 cases, comprising 17 deaths in police custody and 15 in police lock-ups.”
Suaram’s Malaysia Human Rights Report 2023 reported 14 police-shooting cases that saw nine deaths and three injuries.
Its 2022 report noted a total of 46 deaths in police custody, while in 2021, there were 35 deaths in and under police custody. An estimated 19 of these deaths were attributed to police shootings in 2021.
Aliran executive committee
9 December 2025AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
