seremban

From: DAP MALAYSIA <dap.malaysia@p...>
Date: Thu Feb 22, 2001 3:06pm
Subject: [BUNGARAYA] Three Kingdoms in Seremban murder suspect bail case

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Media Statement by DAP National Chairman Lim Kit Siang in Petaling Jaya on
Thursday, February 22, 2001:

End the "Three Kingdom" charade of the de-facto Law Minister,
Attorney-General and Police giving three versions on government position on
the controversial granting of bail to a prime suspect in Seremban murder case
======================================================

The time has come to end the charade of the de factor Law Minister, the
Attorney-General and the Police giving three conflicting versions on the
government position on the controversial granting of bail to a prime
suspect in the Seremban murder case, showing a disgraceful spectacle of
government deeply divided into warring "Three Kingdoms".

On Monday, the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Dr. Rais
Yatim announced that the Attorney-General's Chambers will set up an inquiry
team to investigate into the circumstances of a police case in Seremban in
which a prime murder suspect was allowed bail when such cases are
non-bailable offences.

He said the inquiry team, which will be selected by the Attorney-General
and will comprise representatives from the Attorney-General's Chambers,
public legal sector and the police, will begin its work at the end of the
week into the circumstances of the granting of the bail, the procedures
taken by the police when handling the case, exactly who had approved the
bail, why the bail was granted, and the decision-making process in the AG's
chambers.

He said the findings of the inquiry would be made public.

The next day, Tuesday, there was no more mention of any inquiry by the
Attorney-General's chambers into the controversial circumstances where a
prime murder suspect was allowed bail.

Instead, there was the announcement from the Attorney-General's Chambers
that the Attorney-General, Datuk Ainum Mohd Saad in her capacity as Public
Prosecutor had ordered an inquest to be held into Seow's death under
section 339 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which empowers the Public
Prosecutor to direct a magistrate to hold such inquest into the cause of deaths.

The Attorney-General's Chambers spokesman said that the inquest will take
the place of the earlier murder investigation and that Ainum had advised the
police to change its team investigating the case which has been classified
as murder.
What the Attorney-General's Chambers announced is a different kettle of fish
from what Rais had announced - the former about inquiry into the cause of
death the latter about the circumstances where bail was allowed!

What was most extraordinary was that Rais seemed to have accepted such a
volte-face, backing down from his announcement a day earlier about the
inquiry into procedures taken by the police when handling the case,
including the bail issue, saying: "Let the matter rest there. The Public
Prosecutor, who is also the Attorney-General, will inform the government
about the case from time to time."

The third day, Wednesday, saw a third warring version when the Negri
Sembilan police chief, Datuk Amiruddin Embi said the 42-year-old
businessman murder suspect was released on RM100,000 police bail with two
sureties on the instructions of the Attorney-General's chambers.
Amiruddin denied any preferential treatment to the businessman, declaring
that "from the start (of the case) till now", the police had acted under the
instructions of the Attorney-General's Chambers as under the police bail
procedures, only the AG's Chambers had the powers to decide whether a person
could be granted police bail or not.

He refuted reports that the investigation officer in the case would be under
probe for allegedly giving "special treatment" to the suspect, declaring:
"As far as we are concerned, there is no probe against the officer. Neither
were we given a directive to change the current investigation team."

If Amiruddin is right, then it is the Attorney-General's Chambers which must
be the object of investigation in the controversial granting of bail and not
the police, which makes it all the imperative that such an inquiry should
not involve either the Attorney-General's Chambers or the police and be open
and public.

However, Rais had also returned to the fray, declaring that as far as he was
concerned, the inquiry into the police handling of the controversial case in
allowing bail for the prime murder suspect had started, although nobody
could enlighten the public as to whether an inquiry team had been set up to
investigate into "the circumstances of the granting of the bail, the
procedures taken by the police when handling the case, exactly who had
approved the bail, why the bail was granted, and the decision-making process
in the AG's chambers" and who comprise the inquiry.

This "Three Kingdom" farce is splattering mud on the face of Rais, the
Attorney-General's Chambers and the Police, and nobody is coming out of it
with any dignity or credibility.

The government must give a simple and coherent answer to the very simple
question - Is there an inquiry into the circumstances of the granting of the
police bail to the murder suspect as announced by Rais which is different
and separate from the inquest directed by the Public Prosecutor under
section 339 of the Criminal Procedure Code to inquire into the cause of
death, and if so, who are the members of the inquiry and its terms of reference.

The credibility of Rais, Ainum and the Police are hanging by a very thin
thread if they continue to give incoherent and gibberish answers to such a
simple question.

- Lim Kit Siang -

Saturday February 17

Eye-witness to a shooting in Seremban
Ng Boon Hooi and Susan Loone

4:03pm, Sat: exclusive On Jan 13, at about 11pm, Seow Nan Keong, 27, a car accessory shop worker walked out from a pub in Taman Thivy Jaya, Seremban to receive a call on his handphone. It turned out to be the last call he would ever receive.

After he ended the call, he saw his brother’s girlfriend standing outside for some fresh air. It was a Saturday night and the Seow brothers and their friends were out celebrating the upcoming Chinese New Year.

The girl later noticed a middle-aged man and another man, presumably his friend, came out of the pub. While one went to his car across the road, the middle-aged man stepped into his car which was parked just outside the pub.

“The man was wobbling. It looked like he was very ‘high’, and I suspect that he might be drunk,” the girl told malaysiakini in an interview in Seremban.

She reported that the boss of the pub came out and asked the middle-aged man whether he wanted to reverse his car. Then he asked Seow to move his car, which was parked nearby.

“He didn’t tell me that he wanted me to reverse the car, he didn’t even honk,” the girl heard Seow telling the boss.

The man’s car was parked in between Seow’s and her own car.

“There is ample space for the man to reverse his car,” said the girl.

Obscenities hurled

Nevertheless, Seow apologised to the man and walked towards his car. But the middle-aged man came out from the car, shouting obscenities at Seow, she said.

Seow stopped and turned to him and said, “I’ve said sorry just now. If you want to reverse the car, it is fine. What else do you want me to do?”

The man slammed the door and walked towards Seow, pushing him a few steps backward.

“We fight out there,” yelled the man. Seow followed the man.

“The man walked to the middle of the road, and pointed a pistol at Seow, and before Seow could run away, the man opened fire.

“Seow put his hand on his neck and stood for a while before he fell,” the girl recalled.

“The man ran to his friend who had not left yet, and smiled to his friend,” said the girl. She added that she was then trembling with shock.

She saw the man made a call on his mobile phone.

She then rushed into the pub for Seow’s brother, Seow Woon Huat, 36, to help his brother.

Pistol in hand

“The suspect was still holding his pistol in hand when I picked up my brother,” Woon Huat related to malaysiakini. The elder Seow then sent his brother to Seremban General Hospital.

Many of those who were in front of the pub had witnessed the incident.

“Several of the people standing there said there was no need to open fire over a small issue,” said Woon Huat recalled.

Later, the girl witness saw a few plainclothes policemen arrived, and they shook hands with the suspect.

“Siapa sini tengok? (Who saw this?)” a police asked for witnesses.

The girl said she lifted her hand and gave her oral report to the police. She said she wrote down the plate number of the suspect’s car before she left for the hospital.

According to The Sun’s report on Jan 15, Seremban OCPD Asst Commissioner Mak Chee Onn confirmed that the police found the shell of a bullet and a knife at the murder scene.

But the girl insisted that she had not seen any knife that night.

“The police did not ask about the knife at all on the spot. It was only after a few hours later in the police station that they asked me about the knife,” she said.

Woon Huat said the victim never brought a knife with him, and he seldom went to the pub.

“We are suspicious of the existence of the knife and where it came from,” he added.

According to Woon Huat, his girlfriend who witnessed the shooting had been asked by the police to make eight reports in all.

The witness noted that she had told the police that the suspect seemed drunk, but a copy of the police report acquired by malaysiakini found that there was no mention about the suspect’s alleged drunkenness.

Out on RM100,000 bail

The adopted parents of the victim, Seow Chee Kong, 73, and Yap Siew Lan, 73, were visibly distressed as the witness related the story to malaysiakini. The victim, a second son, was very close to his siblings and together they lived in an extended family.

Chee Kong’s brother, Seow Eng Kong, 63, who is the biological father of the victim, said that the victim was the main provider for the Seow family.

"Every month he earns about RM2,000 to RM3,000 for the family, his boss always sent him overseas on business," recalled Eng Kong, adding that the victim had just come back from New Zealand before his death.

The suspect, a prominent businessman and son of a tycoon who is a datuk (a royalty-bestowed title), was granted police bail of RM100,000 under two sureties at the magistrate court and released on Jan 27. His bail was further extended on Feb 12 for another seven days.

“We know that the case under Section 302 is not bailable. If the police do not charge him, we are going to (lobby the Attorney-General’s Chamber) to charge him,” said Eng Kong.

He added that they are still waiting for the results of the police investigation of the case.

Recently, there were rumours saying that the victim’s family had received RM200,000 from the suspect and his family as a compensation.

“We have never met the family of the suspect and did not receive a single sen from them. It’s all rumours,” said Chee Kong.

“We want the culprit to be jailed, we don’t want any money,” stressed the victim’s brother Woon Huat.

Law minister’s assurance

“The public is very angry with the police now, we hope that (de facto Law Minister) Dr Rais Yatim will do something for justice,” said Eng Kong.

On Feb 14, New Straits Times quoted the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Rais as saying that he would personally look into the case of the murder suspect being released on bail.

A murder case is non-bailable, he added, saying that he could not understand why the suspect, a 42-year-old businessman, who was being investigated by the police under section 302 of the Penal Code, was freed.

"I will take up this case with the (AG) chambers personally. There seems to be a special treatment for the suspect and the question is why,” said Rais.

"We will check who (from the chambers) gave the directive for the suspect to be freed on bail and when the directive was issued. I will get to the bottom of things."

The National Council of Justices also lauded Rais’ promise to look into this matter. The movement’s secretary-general M Ramalingam said it was important to uphold the rule of law.

“Our government is not founded upon the wielding of the gun and therefore citizens possessing firearms licences do not have the inherent right of killing people,” he was reported as saying.

The suspect’s bail will expire on Monday.