Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said police would normally transport the suspects to court in a lorry.
“We wouldn’t be able to react quickly should anything happen if they were in civilian garb.
“This is the main reason they wear the lock-up uniform,” he said.
Last week, human rights lawyer and Padang Serai MP N Surendran had questioned the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the police for forcing suspects to wear the uniform.
This was after two high-profile MACC detainees were brought to court for their remand hearing dressed in MACC’s orange jumpsuit. They were former Felda chairman Isa Samad and Penang exco Phee Boon Poh.
Surendran, citing Article 5 of the Federal Constitution as well as the Prisons Regulation 2000, said an arrested person could lawfully decline to wear the lock-up uniform.
“Being forced to wear these bright orange uniforms and being paraded thus in the court premises is humiliating to the arrested person and creates the perception that he is indeed a wrongdoer or criminal, even though the court has not pronounced guilt,” he said.
Surendran also said Regulation 168 of the Prisons Regulation 2000 made it mandatory for prison authorities to allow unconvicted prisoners to wear their own clothes.
Prior to this, MACC chief commissioner Dzulkifli Ahmad had also defended the practice, telling those who said it was unconstitutional to challenge it in court.
“We have our rights too. That is why the court exists,” he said.