I read the articles/letters on malaysiakini quite frequently to look at issues from a different point of view not available in mainstream papers.

There are already heaps of comments on the Suhakam report and also the government response ("Mahathir defends police, says Italians more 'brutal'", Aug 22).

First and foremost, to argue that the police (whether local or foreign) are allowed to wield the power to violate human rights just doesn't make sense. Would we want others to violate our rights, brutalise us or humiliate us just because they can?

As pointed out by Suhakam (and the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights), human rights are universal, not eastern or western. I do hope that the government officials censuring the Suhakam report realise that their criticism implies that we, the people of Malaysia, are less worthy humans, or less privileged to be humans than those in the West.

As for the Genoa incident, it was definitely a bad mark on the police, but why point out only the extreme? Can we say with confidence that their police force abuse power like ours? I am sure we are all quite familiar with the 'let's settle' and duit kopi (under the table) methods. And to actually claim the such a report will demoralise the police force ... well, I don't think allowing the force to violate human rights is a good way of motivating them, do you?

Look at the aftermath of the Genoa incident; did the Italian government cover up the report or even support the show of force? No, two of Italy's highest-ranking police officers resigned over the incident and top cops were reprimanded. I am pretty sure our 'honourable' police chiefs do not see that the Kesas fracas was their responsibility - and after all, the government has said it's okay.

What has happened to our country's governance? The people want to progress/change and yet we have our politicians criticising the West over everything. Never pointing out the good points but only drawing comparison with the bad points. No western country is perfect and we do need to understand that being a thorn on the side of the more developed country isn't the wise thing to do, as pointed by Christine in her letter - 'Sweeping statement about Italian police' (Aug 23).

Emulate the good values and throw away the bad, that's what we're all told to do in our school moral classes. I just hope that we do move forward to reach for the better goal, rather than consoling ourselves that our situation isn't that bad because there are worse ones elsewhere. There's always room for improvement.