Kuala Lumpur - Malaysians should not hero-worship criminals while turning a blind eye to the rights of victims, the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) said yesterday.

Commissioner Datuk Siva Subramaniam said the people should also not have a race-tinted view of police actions. He said the public should check their facts before jumping to conclusions as there were two sides to a story.

Subramaniam was commenting on a case earlier this month when two brothers, one of them high on the police wanted list, were killed in a shootout in Taiping.

The two were R.Satchithantham, 28, who had 15 previous convictions and his brother, R.Logeswaran, 35, with 21, according to Perak Criminal Investigation Department chief Datuk Dzuraidi Ibrahim.

In the incident on April 9, police had ordered a car, which was being driven in a suspicious manner, to stop but it reversed and sped off.

Several shots were fired at the police from the car and police returned fire, killing the driver and the front seat passenger.

The father of the two deceased, V.Rethinam, said he planned legal action against the police.

Subramaniam said the issues was being played up by people with ulterior motives, with blogs alleging that Taiping was the "Gaza of Malaysia" following the incident.

We don't like the issues being made to paint the police force black. I have checked the facts thoroughly and (the allegation) is not at all fair, "he said at Suhakam headquarters yesterday.

Dipetik dari keratan New Straits Times, 
21 April 2010 muka surat 21 ruangan 4-5.