THE REAL CurhatSue

1st Day: 5th June 2007

0800 hours - Reported to the PDRM Bukit Aman Forensics Lab, Royal Police Force College, Cheras. Asked to be waited in the Guest Room. Many appreciation plaques and awards displayed in a glass display. There was even a replica of the PDRM Forensics Lab.

0820 hours - Welcomed by Superintendent Teah. He explained to me about the course of my attachment. I was asked to produce a letter of indemnity for their legal protection in case of any mishap that might occur to me during the attachment. I told him I had posted the letter to Tuan Euw. I gave 2 of my passport-sized photos in order to issue a CID access card for me. The access card would only be effective during office hours and only accessible to the Sections which have been selected for me for security purposes.

                   When I saw the CSI BUKIT AMAN signs

everywhere, I felt like my heart almost dropped, just can’t believe that I really am here to be a part of the CSI team! Although it would only be for temporary, still it will be an experience of a lifetime insya Allah. He briefed me about the departments in the Forensics Lab. They are referred as Sections.

                  There are mainly 5 Sections namely:

                  1) Administration

                  2) Physical - Crime Scene Investigation (CSI)

                                  - Fingerprint

                                  - Computer Crime

                                  - Document

                                  - Audio Visual

                   3) Biology - Biological areas

                                  - DNA Analysis (DNA Data Bank)

                   4) Chemistry - Arson & Criminalistic

                                      - Ballistic

                                      - Etching/ Vehicle Examination

                  5) Narcotics                

                   However he remarked that only the 4 Sections (excluding Administration) are the active oone for investigation purposes.

                   As for me, it is actually a wonder to most people for a law student like me to apply my attachment there (in fact I am the first Law student to be accepted there, usually they would reject law students but like they said ‘Macam mana Suraya boleh sangkut kat sini ye?? Lain kali ada law student lagi reject je" :p Actually the cops keep teasing me when they first discovered the fact that I am a law student, even said that there must be some inside connection for me to be there since usually out of 50 application even from Science stream students, they would only choose 1. Alhamdulillah I guess I’m just fortunate to be here). The PDRM (Malaysian Royal Police Force) actually does not really fancy my presence to be under them because in the technical sense, they assume that if I would be a criminal lawyer, I would surely be opposing them, and it would surely be easier for me to beat them since I know their job procedures from A-Z. However in the real sense, they welcomed me warmly and told me they are honoured to have my interest in their career field. I told them that I chose to be there because this would be a once in a lifetime opportunity, an opportunity that I would not be able to attain anytime later in my life especially when I have graduated.

                    I told them that even if I chose to be a civil lawyer, this would still be a valuable personal experience for me. One more factor is that, I desire to check out for myself whether the PDRM is really honest and truthful in accomplishing their work or vice versa; as I heard many negative reports from the media that ‘Polis tidak telus’, thus instead of listening from others I prefer to check it out for myself and evaluate. Besides that, I wish to do something charitable but in an adventurous way I guess, to help the PDRM with what I would be able to contribute even in the least sense. Finally I hope to be a braver person. Going to crime scenes especially murder scenes to witness and even be in physical contact with the murdered bodies would not be an easy task, however I believe for one to be braver he must challenge himself with what he fears; thus this is exactly what I am trying to endeavour.

                      Tuan Teah explained to me that since I am a law student, it would be most relevant for me to be under the supervision of the CSI Unit, which is under the Physical Section. I was then brought to the CSI Unit department, I was introduced to the cops there. They have different teams working on shift every 24 hours. There are displays of many photos of crime victims, name it murder in various methods, rape cum murder, bombing etc. I find it cool to be in a working place where photos of dead bodies murdered in gruesome ways surround you, just would make you a lot braver I guess. It is depressing at the same time to discover that other human beings could actually be this cruel murdering others in real grotesque ways, however this is what we call reality. Like it or not, we have to face it.

(to be updated)