THE previous government allowed police and pathologists to cover up for perpetrators in death in custody cases, said two lawyers at a forum today.

N. Surendran said there was a “quid pro quo” between the police and the government, and that government pathologists were also part of efforts to hush up these cases.

“The quid pro quo between the two bodies was: you (the police) shall protect me (the government) from political dissent and I shall not enquire about you.

“Government pathologists defended police who were part of the same system and background,” the former Padang Serai MP from PKR said.

“This was prevalent in the Barisan Nasional era, but it must change quickly. It was seen as normal for various departments to help cover up for each other,” he said at the launch of a report entitled Five Faces: A story of police custodial deaths in Malaysia by Lawyers for Liberty in Petaling Jaya today.

Another lawyer, Eric Paulsen of Fortify Rights, spoke on the weakness of post-mortems conducted in cases of death in custody.

He said that the medical staff erred on the side of the police, interpreted in their favour and it was more probable that the police were responsible.

“As a pathologist, (if) you make the job of the police difficult, then your job is also more difficult. They need to do some soul-searching about their job integrity,” said Paulsen.

He pointed to the findings of disciplinary inquiries held by the Malaysian Medical Council on cases of government pathologists who made dishonest reports but only escaped with a slap on the wrist.

Paulsen said one such pathologist had been charged with neglect and disregard of his professional responsibilities for failing to conduct a proper examination, but escaped without sufficient punishment.

“If this were to happen in another country, he would have gotten a stricter punishment.” he said.

Another had appealed to to be absolved of any wrongdoing, claiming misleading information provided by the police.

“This (raises) the impartiality of pathologists and calls for reforms to the system of the post-mortem,” he said.

Some 284 detainees have died in police custody from 2000 to 2016. The report today looked at high-profile cases of detainees A. Kugan, Karuna Nithi, C. Sugumar and S. Balamurugan who died while in police custody.

Institutional Reform Committee member Ambiga Sreenevasan, who was also present, said answers were needed as to how deaths in custody occurred.

“Clearly there is another system in play, while our legal system is seen to be running,” she said. – September 14, 2018.