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Another case of a woman strip-searched by police has emerged, turning up the heat on a force that just last week rejected the creation of an independent commission to check abuses.

A 60-year-old housewife, Cheng Pik Wai, told stunned lawmakers in parliament on Thursday that she was stripped naked and robbed of M$200 ($421) by police officers who said the money was for yam cha, or tea money.

She was arrested on March 11 after a quarrel with security guards at a shopping mall and taken to a police station in  Kuala Lumpur where she was stripped and robbed by female officers.

'I have never felt so humiliated in my life,' Mrs Cheng told the lawmakers.

'They made me turn around several times and they laughed.'

The officers also asked  for her ATM bank card and PIN, but she refused.

Mrs  Cheng was released the same day after her husband intervened.

'Only now Madam Cheng found the courage to speak up,' said lawmaker Teresa Kok, of the opposition Democratic Action Party who arranged the event in parliament.

Police have promised to punish Mrs Cheng's tormentors.

Last year a young woman was subjected to similar abuse and secretly video-taped. The  furore that followed the case caused major changes in police procedure.

The government also agreed to set up an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission.

After months of hesitation, police last week announced their opposition to such a commission on the grounds that police dignity would suffer.

Mrs Cheng's plight hit the headlines just as lawmakers hotly debated the police move to reject the commission.

Both government and opposition lawmakers are asking for the speedy creation of an independent commission. And three of the country's biggest human rights organisations  have demanded that the inspector-general of police, Bakri Omar, resign for changes to take place in the force.

'Mr Bakri has openly defied the prime minister  by rejecting the IPCMC. He cannot remain as police chief and continue to oppose the government,' said parliamentary opposition leader  Lim Kit Siang.

'The police behaviour is appalling and unprofessional.'



Housewife stripped and robbed by police, stunned lawmakers told