A total of 579 suspected criminals were shot dead by the Malaysian police in the last 20 years, Deputy Home Minister Chor Chee Heung told Parliament today.
Meanwhile there were 19 police officers shot dead in the same period, Chor said in Dewan Rakyat.
The deputy minister, who is also Alor Star member of parliament, was replying to a question from Dr Abu Bakar Othman (PAS-Jerlun) who enquired about the number of suspected criminals shot dead by the police since 1981.
The deputy minister explained the suspects who were shot dead were allegedly involved in various crimes such as robbery, theft, kidnapping, drug offences, firearms trafficking and possession, assaulting and trying to escape from police roadblock, firing at police, running amok, fighting, murder and illegal immigrants cases .
Trigger-happy
The police has been lambasted by human rights groups as trigger-happy due to the high number of suspected criminals killed by the force.
Parti Reformasi Insan Malaysia has submitted a memorandum to the government two years ago highlighting concerns over the alarming figures.
It said that according to statistics based on press reports over the past few years, an average of 1.3 person have been shot dead per week.
In a tragic incident two years ago, a policeman constable shot dead a young doctor. The father of the deceased subsequent filed a suit of RM37,000 against the policeman and the Malaysian government.
Human rights group, Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram), in its report on the state of human rights in Malaysia last year mentioned the case of one Mr How, who claimed that he was forced to play Russian Roulette by the police while in custody.
The 26-year-old mechanic was eventually shot on one side of his head and blinded in one eye.
Death squad
In a supplementary question, Abu asked the Home Ministry if the government is aware of the rumour about the existence of a death squad in the police force.
Chor however denied that such death squad existed, adding that these were merely rumours. He said Malaysia did not require such squads.
It is widely reported that countries in South America are among those which have death squads in the police force, where rather than arresting the suspected criminals, the police would instead killed them.
