Exactly one year after the wanton police shooting death of Kathir Oli, father of four young children and successful businessman, the Deputy Public Prosecutor told dismayed family members and the Parti Sosialis Malaysia that he was sticking to his stand in not calling for an inquest.

He had instead decided to charge three friends of the victim under two sections of the Penal Code – for causing mischief, and for causing hurt to a public servant to prevent him from discharging his duties – and so according to him, going by Section 333 (3) of the Criminal Procedure Code, there was no need for him to call an inquest.

Deeply disappointed, Janaki Kathir Oli, wife of the victim, questioned how such a controversial death as her husband’s could just be dismissed using two minor crimes to deny an inquest. Her husband, Kathir Oli had been shot dead outside a pub by a tipsy policeman in mufti, just after midnight on 15 Sept 2011.

On the same day, less than 12 hours after the incident, the CPO of Perak had issued a press statement fully defending the policeman in question. He fabricated a story which he himself couldn’t later support with evidence.

His story was that Kathir Oli and friends were armed with parang knives and were caught in the act of robbing the pub clients. To prop up that story he remanded three of Kathir Oli’s friends for investigation under the charge of attempted murder (of the policeman I guess). While in the lockup they tried to make them confess to hurting the policeman with parang knives.

Despite being blindfolded and beaten up, Kathir Oli’s friends managed to stand their ground. They had gone to the pub for a drink but were denied entry. An altercation then ensued. A glass pane got shattered and there was a heated exchange after which Kathir Oli and friends gave up and decided to leave. It was as Kathir Oli and friends were reversing their car that a man appeared waving a gun, and demanding that they stop. Within minutes after getting out of the car, the unsuspecting Kathir Oli was shot dead.

The current charge that the DPP is bringing against Kathir Oli’s friends is not linked to possession of parang, or attempted murder, or robbery, all of which they were initially accused of, obviously to justify the extreme action of shooting to death by a Polis DiRaja Malaysia.

Outside the Perak state secretariat building which houses the DPP’s office, the people who had gathered to protest the inaction over Kathir Oli’s death chanted, “Justice for Kathir Oli!”, “Police – brutal; DPP - cover up!”, “Inquest now!”

The decision of the DPP not to call for an inquest on the pretext that three individuals involved in the incident are being charged with two criminal offences, might appear totally intelligent and fair to him. But to the people gathered outside the gates of the state secretariat building, it makes no sense at all, as the biggest criminal act in the whole episode, the shooting to death of Kathir Oli, is not addressed. And the most profound sounding law will not convince them and the Malaysian public that justice has been done.

The decision not to hold an inquiry will do nothing to deter gun-toting, trigger-happy policemen from shooting members of the public.

Despite the odds, however, Kathir Oli’s friends and family are determined to fight on.

The writer is central committee member of Partis Sosialis Malaysia (PSM).