Total Pageviews

Sunday 2 June 2013

There are lies, damn lies and statistics

by Joe Fernandez

COMMENT There are lies, damn lies and statistics.

According to a chart in malaysiakini, from 2000 to 2013, there were 65 Malay deaths in custody, 33 Chinese, 35 Indians, 10 Others, and 15 Foreigners.

Considering the Indian population, there should not be more than 7 deaths if compared with the Malays and Chinese.

So, Indian deaths in police custody are disproportionate.

The figures exclude those who don't die in custody but are bashed up anyway near death and perhaps die not long after because of the beatings. The figures also exclude those who die in shootouts with the police, those rotting for years under "remand" pending trial and those banished or placed under restricted residence.

Indian suicide rates, the highest in the country, are mostly the result of an absence of a social safety network. These people, generally displaced from the estates without any marketable skills, should be provided with some land by the state so that they can fend for themselves.
The police can't maintain peace by extrajudicial measures. They tried this in Brazil and Indonesia and it didn't work. Eventually, Brazil and Indonesia were hauled up by the United Nations.

The police should also not appear to do the bidding of the wealthy, the Triads and elements of the criminal underworld.



No comments: