Aliran strongly condemns the human rights violations at the Taiping Prison in Perak on 17 January 2025.
These violations and the violence inflicted on inmates left one dead and scores injured.
We welcome the findings of the Malaysian human rights commission, Suhakam, which confirmed after a rigorous public inquiry that prison management and staff bear direct responsibility for the violence inflicted on inmates that day.
The inquiry, which lasted three months and two weeks, heard testimony from 50 witnesses and admitted 127 exhibits.
The panel found that prison staff used excessive physical force, including batons and pepper spray, against 80–100 High Court detainees during a routine transfer from Hall B to Block E. One detainee, Gan Chin Eng, died as a result.
Suhakam also found that senior prison officers were negligent and incompetent and that medical treatment was withheld from injured detainees.
Even medical records were falsified, while police reports lodged against the detainees contained false information.
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Aliran is appalled by the systemic failures highlighted in the Suhakam report: serious overcrowding, prolonged remand detention, the continued use of the degrading bucket system, and inadequate medical facilities. These are structural failings that demand urgent reform.
The government must act immediately on Suhakam’s recommendations, which include disciplinary action against Taiping Prison management and staff, and improved healthcare facilities at all prisons. Suhakam noted that the police failed to conduct a separate investigation into the acts of violence against the detainees.
All those responsible for Gan’s death and the other detainees’ injuries must be brought to justice without delay. Given the gravity of the findings, Aliran calls on the Attorney General’s Chambers to hasten its review of police investigation papers and charge the perpetrators in court.
What we need now are institutional safeguards to prevent future violence and injustice.
Suhakam called for a review of remand and imprisonment practices and Malaysia’s accession to the UN Convention Against Torture. Aliran wholeheartedly endorses both these calls.
Aliran also calls for the appointment of an independent inspector of prisons and detention facilities – as found in the UK, Ireland and Australia. The inspector should report directly to Parliament rather than the executive.
Prisons exist to rehabilitate, not to punish through brutality. They must never become places where those entrusted with the care of inmates become the very source of harm. The lawlessness and brutality that Suhakam documented are a betrayal of the state’s duty of care and an affront to the rule of law.
The government must act now to prevent a recurrence of the ugly incident on 17 January 2025 and to hold those responsible fully accountable.
Aliran executive committee
27 May 2026
The views expressed in Aliran's media statements and the NGO statements we have endorsed reflect Aliran's official stand. Views and opinions expressed in other pieces published here do not necessarily reflect Aliran's official position.
- 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
