KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 — Outgoing Gombak police chief Arifai Tarawe has withdrawn his RM10 million defamation suit against news portal Free Malaysia Today (FMT) over two of its articles on his impending transfer to Bukit Aman.

FMT reported the withdrawal today, following an interview with Arifai yesterday, where the senior police officer reportedly said that after mulling the situation over, he decided FMT did not intend to portray him negatively and that the press was just doing its job.

“That is why I decided it was best to resolve the dispute amicably with FMT. We agreed to meet, I explained my position and FMT made it clear there was no intention to cast me or my officers in a bad light,” he reportedly said.

Arifai will be transferred to the Bukit Aman Integrity and Standards Compliance Department on June 21.

On May 17, FMT had reported on the transfer using the headline "Under-fire Gombak police chief transferred to Integrity Unit", and as a Malay equivalent; "Ketua polis daerah Gombak ditukarkan ke Unit Integriti Bukit Aman".

Arifai was quoted as telling FMT yesterday that it was not true that his transfer to Bukit Aman was in response to the death of A. Ganapathy, who died on April 18 after being detained by the Gombak police.

About a month later, on May 20, another man — Sivabalan Subramaniam — also died after being arrested and held at the Gombak district police headquarters.

The two deaths caused great controversy and prompted public debate over police brutality and how ethnic Indians are disproportionately found dead in police custody.

Arifai reportedly told FMT that he and his family were deeply affected by the cases.

“Ganapathy’s death, and then S. Sivabalan’s death... these are some things that deeply upset us. No police officer wants any harm to come to any detainee, and I would like to say again on record, we did not harm any detainee under our custody.”

“...Having been in the public eye for years, I am used to criticism but I was really cut up when my children told me their friends said their father is a ‘bad guy’.

“They know what their friends are saying isn’t true, but they still feel hurt, and as a father, I feel heartbroken seeing them sad,” he was quoted as saying.

According to the family of Ganapathy, a 40-year-old milk trader, his health deteriorated as a result of beatings. As evidence, they said his legs were swollen and bruised as though he had been assaulted.

Ganapathy, had spent 12 days in police custody from February 24 to March 8 before he was admitted to Selayang Hospital, where his legs were later amputated after contracting necrotising fasciitis.  

Forty-two-year-old security guard Sivabalan had reportedly died of a heart attack, less than 24 hours after his arrest.