SHAH ALAM, August 25: PKR Vice-President, N Surendran regrets that ever since before, the police have failed to solve many high profile cases, including the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu, because of political interference.
He believes that the failure of the police in solving such cases is because the authorities do not pay particular attention in improving efficiency in terms of investigation and prosecution.
Instead, he said that the police are being manipulated by the Federal Government as a political tool to carry out intelligence actions against opposition parties and social activists.
“The government should immediately stop from using the Special Branch (SB) to spy on the activities of the opposition and use the intelligence to arrest criminals,” he told TVSelangor.
Several high profile cases such as the murder of Altantuya, Norita Shamsuddin and the Deputy Director General of Customs, Datuk Shaharuddin Ibrahim, saw investigations not resolved for long periods.
This is because no individual has been prosecuted as the criminal or that they have been simply acquitted or even motives of the incidents are not known.
Most recently, Mohd Akhtar Shaharuddin, the son of Shaharuddin, stated that the murder of his father has to do with a car smuggling syndicate in Langkawi, but there has been no further development.
Elaborating, Surendran said that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MOHA) is more concerned with the restoration of the Emergency Ordinance but has ignored solving criminal cases.
Surendran said, political interference has caused the police to lose professional practice and ‘there is no strong desire’ to find the truth in a case.
“There should be no political interference in the police affairs and investigations, especially in high profile cases, so that they can carry out their duties professionally,” he said.
The Member of Parliament for Bagan Serai said that the Minister of Home Affairs (MOHA) is more concerned with efforts to restore the Emergency Ordinance however has ignored criminal cases.
“This has resulted in failure in the prosecution of high-profile cases because Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi is more concerned about the Emergency Ordinance,” he said, referring to the minister who heads the MOHA.
In addition, Surendran also proposed for police salaries to be reviewed so that those who are really capable will be interested in joining the police force.
