A cabinet minister who heads the Malaysian party representing members of the Indian community wants a commission of inquiry into incidents in which 11 Indians, including two women, were shot dead by police. S. Samy Vellu, president of the Malaysian Indian Congress, expressed surprise at remarks by acting police chief Norian Mai that he was satisfied with his men's action. If cabinet approves his proposal, it would be the second independent investigation of police actions this year, following the establishment of a commission to look into the beating of Anwar Ibrahim, the former deputy prime minister, while he was in police custody. Taking responsibility for that incident, the police chief, Rahim Noor, resigned. Mr Norian Mai, who has assumed his duties, was commenting on a police report into the shootings, which, he said, had been submitted to the Attorney-General. He said the police actions were justified because the suspects were armed at the time. Mr Samy Vellu said yesterday he was surprised that although the report had yet to be submitted to the Attorney-General, the police had concluded that their actions were justified. He said every investigation should be 'seriously and carefully carried out'. In two separate incidents last year, nine men and two women, all Indians, were shot dead by police, who said they were suspects in criminal cases. The first shooting, which resulted in the death of the two women, one of whom was pregnant, and three men, occurred when police stormed a house following a kidnapping. The following day in Kelantan state, police shot dead six men suspected of being involved in armed robberies and gun smuggling. Mr Samy Vellu said after the shooting involving the alleged kidnappers that he did not hear of the police 'asking the suspects to surrender'. In the second incident one of the suspects shot dead was head of a division of the youth wing of the Malaysian Indian Congress and three others were members. Last month, a bank employee was shot dead during a gun battle between police and four suspected robbers. All four robbers were also shot dead.
