298 shot dead by police since 2007

The Sun
by Karen Arukesamy, Hemananthani Sivanandam and Pauline Wong at the Dewan Rakyat

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 23, 2012): Nearly 300 people have been shot dead by the police since 2007, with a large number of them being Indonesians.

In a written reply, the Home Ministry said a total of 298 people of various nationalities were shot dead between 2007 and August this year. Out of this number, Indonesians accounted for 151 alleged criminals who were shot dead.

Malaysians were the second largest group with 134 people, followed by Vietnamese (five), Myanmarese (three), Thais (two), Nigerian (one), Liberian (one) and another person of unknown nationality.

"In 2007, a total of 13 people were shot dead, while in 2008 ( 85), 2009 (88), 2010 (45), 2011 (30) and up to August this year (37).

The ministry was replying to Dr Michael Jeyakumar (PSM-Sungai Siput) who had asked to state the number of people shot dead by police between 2007 and 2012 according to nationality, age, gender, the type of offences and the place they were shot.

He also asked if the ministry plans to have an inquest for the cases.

Of the 298 people shot dead, the age of 116 could not be determined while 179 were between 19 and 60 years old. Only three were between 16 and 18 years old. None were 60 or older. Of the total number shot, only two were women.

The ministry also said 53 people were shot in Selangor, followed by in Kuala Lumpur (16), Johor (14), Penang (14), Perak (11) and Negri Sembilan (10).

"As for inquests, that is to be determined by the courts."

The ministry also revealed that the case files of those who were shot dead by the police were classified as "sudden death reports. The police will keep and maintain these records.