Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz today urged magistrates not to take the granting of remand orders as just an 'administrative matter'.

"Magistrates should not see issuing a remand order as an administrative matter but have to investigate whether there is a need to issue it," he told a press conference after launching a booklet on The police and your rights published by the Bar Council of Malaysia.

He urged the magistrates to be more vigilant and take human rights concerns into account before granting a remand.

"It has been a practice (that remand orders are given easily). It's not wrong to do that but if it's given too arbitrarily then it becomes very problematic," he said.

Earlier in his speech, Nazri said magistrates normally issue a remand order in an administrative manner and fail to scrutinise the propriety of the arrest, the investigations done in the preceding 24 hours and the connection between the suspect and the crime.

"In most cases, no investigation is carried out at all within the initial 24 hours. In many cases there is no logical connection between the length of the remand period and the alleged offence," he noted.

He cautioned that very often, remand procedures were carried out with neither the proper participation of the suspect nor the presence of a lawyer.

"The situation is made worse as there is a general lack of information regarding the fate of a suspect," he said.

Given arbitrarily

The minister said the whereabouts of a suspect and details while under remand were normally not easily forthcoming from the police.

"Family members and lawyers are usually given the runaround concerning the place of detention.

"Access to the suspect and details as to when the suspect is to be brought to court for a remand order or to be charged are also often denied in order not to hamper investigation," he said.

Under the Criminal Procedure Code, if investigations cannot be completed within 24 hours of an arrest, police have to bring a detainee before a magistrate for a remand order not exceeding 15 days

There is an increasing concern among lawyers and human rights activists however, that remand orders have been given too arbitrarily.

Nazri, in his speech, also said the government was dedicated to the formation of a transparent and independent body to supervise the workings of the police force.

"We are looking into this," said the de facto law minister without elaborating.

Support encouraged

Asked about the proposed Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) and an ombudsman, he reiterated that no decision has been made thus far.

"Before a decision is made, there is nothing wrong for any NGO to campaign (in support of IPCMC) to convince the government," he said, referring to the Bar Council's open support for the independent police watchdog.

Present at the booklet's launching today were Bar Council president Yeo Yang Po, chair of Kuala Lumpur Bar's Young Lawyers committee Richard Wee and Marina Mahathir of the Malaysian Aids Council.

Nazri, Yeo and several lawyers later distributed some of the booklets to members of the public at the Central Market. Detailing citizens' basic rights vis-a-vis police procedures, 10,000 copies of the booklets have been printed and will be distributed free of charge.

More information can be obtained form the Bar Council's human rights officer Rajen Devaraj at 03-2032 1715 or at rajen@malaysianbar.org.my