Mp Urges Authorities To Look Into Suspects Court Attire

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Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng has urged the authorities to clarify its procedures in deciding whether an accused would be made to wear detention clothes or otherwise when taken to court.
"The different standards practised by the MACC on which suspects should or should not adorn the bright orange detention T-shirts have left many tongues wagging.
"It also encourages a degree of favouritism or selectiveness in the eyes of the corruption busters. This reflects the lackadaisical attitude of the agency in implementing its own policy.
"Either MACC has no policy, or its policies are at the discretion of individual officers," said Lim in a statement today.
He said this in welcoming Special Committee on Corruption chairperson Rais Yatim's call for the MACC to address the graft buster's apparent double standards when it dresses up an accused in its bright orange detention T-shirts.
Kepong MP Lim Lip EngRais pointed out there were corruption suspects who turned up in court in a coat and necktie, while others were made to wear MACC's orange t-shirt and in handcuffs.
Further, Lim said a similar issue also exists within the police force, with a perceived ambiguity on who would be made to wear its purple-coloured detention clothes.
"In a number of cases involving VIPs and individuals with 'Dato' titles, they are hardly handcuffed and required to wear the police detention clothes when they are brought to court for remand applications or criminal charges.
"It is high time for both MACC and PDRM to discuss and formulate their policies that will determine the categories of suspects that are required to adorn the detention clothes and be handcuffed," he said.
At the remand stage, Lim said both the police and MACC should consider allowing suspects of non-violent crimes to appear in their ordinary attire without handcuffs before the magistrates.
The MACC under then chief commissioner Latheefa Koya had in 2019 announced it would stop dressing suspects in orange after complaints that high-profile individuals were exempted from what is perceived as a humiliation.
However, the practice resumed under current chief commissioner Azam Baki.
Azam had said the practice is necessary to differentiate between the people detained by the MACC and those detained by other enforcement agencies. - Mkini

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