MALAYAN POLICE ALLEGED VIOLENCE AGAINST WITNESSES

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26524, 12 September 1951, Page 6

MALAYAN POLICE ALLEGED VIOLENCE AGAINST WITNESSES

ra ., ttnoanore Correspondent of the "Manchester Guardian",

Singapore.—Within a few days of the HUnod in the Leach Commissions reSt th'selrchhlht of public opinion out here has been trained on me Malayan Federation police—in this case for a different reason The Federation Government has ordered a n inquiry into allegations of P al ‘ ce fence against witnesses which were made in the recent trial of Jeffrey Watts Carter, the Australian planta“During Watts Carter trial witness after witness described beatings, kickings threats, and even acts of torture inrficted on them by the police. One of them had gone to a lawyer to complain, and has since submitted a report to the Indian Commissioner. Another was seen by the defending counsel, who had learned that the prosecution was r °PP ing A the man as an “unreliable Witness. A thFr™ indian-a detainee-was approached as a result of reports of illtreatment conveyed to the defence by tne man's wife. Most of the witnesses in the case were Indian rubber tappers or weeders from the plantation of the accused man. The ill-treatment which a number of them described in court ranged from threats with re volver shots, kickings, punchings, and severe beatings with a rattan cane to [the insertion of a needle under the finger nails. Many of the complainants had been neither convicted nor detained on any charge. “protective Custody” Perhaps the most disquieting aspect of this affair so far is the admission by the police that the majority ot the witnesses had been held in "protective custody”—some of them for months on end —in barbed wire enclosed compounds during the preparation of the prosecution’s case. Under the emergency regulations the police are not empowered to detain anyone longer than 28 days unless, a detention order has been signed by the Chief Secretary, but this regulation had been ignored as well as the ordinary provisions for summoning witnesses, which had be<jn jettisoned in favour of “arrest for interrogation.” a concept unknown to the law of Malaya. There is, unhappily, a growing conviction that lawless police practices which treat all restraints and regulations as “scraps of paper” are becoming more and more widespread in the Malayan Federation. A few days ago the “Straits Times” remarked: “Allegations of the use of threats or force against witnesses are unhappily not rare,” and the judge In the Watts Carter trial deplored that it was “not possible to say that such accusations are untrue.” A senior police officer recently resigned and sent in a detailed report in which he protested against “interrogation methods” now in use. It is realised that the Malayan police force is operating under conditions of great strain in combating terrorism, but there is clearly a wide difference between the violence inflicted on a terrorist captured with a pocketful of grenades and the beating or ill-treatment bf plantation labour-

ers against whom there is io little evi dence that not even an order of deten" tion can be applied for against then"’ Counter-Terror

The truth seems to be that a ten dency is developing for the policed resort to the old discredited method m employing counter-terror against •]? ments of the population which th£ cannot easily protect from Common ist pressure and extortion. The rna jority of plantation workers, unli£ the resettled squatters and many Malay smallholders, come into thk category. They live in widely fca { tered ‘labour lines, 1 ' often on juntl. fringes many miles from the nearer police station. The experience in Asia, however, is that methods n f police terror against Mich people n N the most effective recruiting means for Communism. In the Watts Carter trial an Indian rubber tapper givine evidence said that a certain Indian police sergeant was "the terror of the estate.’ 1 and exclaimed that whereas “the Communists only want 50 cents or a dollar the police sergeant jm prisons us for weeks." Quite apart from the question of the morale and sympathies of the Asian population ii is now being recalled that several hundred people are serving prison sentences in the Federation for aidint the terrorists, and the question fe naturally being asked: “How nigny of these cases were 'framed' on the' of 'tainted evidence’ resulting frS police pressure?” Reform in Singapore In Singapore no complaints have « far been published of similar misuae of emergency powers by the polity force. The new Police Commissions recently emphasised that physical violence to extract information is “not only illegal but unfruitful” Meanwhile a start has been made in ninnepore in implementing the recommendations of the Leach Commission. Sixty fresh police-lieutenants have arrived, and the Gurkha Riot Squad has been reinforced. A plan for improved police pay and accommodation hat been awaiting the approval of the Singapore Government for toms weeks. The proposals for mounted police, armoured cars, and riot-quell ing water-engines are still under consideration. A Fairbairn van, of the type used successfully in Shanghai will probably be introduced. This is 1 lorry with bright paint, deafening gongs, and coloured banners Which the '

. armed police on board it um as • psychological weapon to disperss superstitious crowds. The objective of the present Singapore Police Commas si oner is to replace the present Malay police force by a mixed force, racially balanced in proportion to the popuiatlon. and which would “truly rapresent the people.” The reconstruction of the Singapore police will ne"d to proceed very steadily. Meanwhile the public In the Federation is anxious to learn as soon end as fully aa possible the results of the official inquiry which has been promised as a result of the disturftig revelations of the Watts Carter trial.