Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) has urged the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) to lodge a police report against Taiping prison officers accused of lying under oath during its ongoing inquiry into the Jan 17 assault at the facility.
Suaram executive director Azura Nasron said this is not the first time that the officers have misrepresented the facts.
Azura said that in March, several gave false denials, even in the face of incontrovertible evidence such as CCTV footage.
She said this pattern of dishonesty raises serious concerns about the integrity of future witness accounts and the investigation as a whole.
“If Suhakam fails to act now despite what appears to us as glaring evidence of false testimony, it risks setting a damaging precedent for future inquiries, and dents the independence, effectiveness and integrity of its human rights protection mandate as an A-status national human rights institution,” she said in a statement.
The public inquiry has seen at least one prison warden publicly rebuked by Suhakam for lying under oath, after CCTV footage proved his denials false.
Azura also dismissed claims that a police investigation would hinder Suhakam’s work, saying a police report targets specific legal violations, while the public inquiry serves broader institutional reform.
She warned that delaying action would send the wrong signal about tolerance for false testimony and weaken public confidence in the inquiry’s outcome.
Contacted by FMT, Suhakam chairman Hishamudin Yunus said he would refrain from commenting while the inquiry is ongoing.
