I refer to the infamous assault upon Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim while under police custody, which took place 14 years ago today on 20 September 1998.
The assault was merciless, life-threatening and disgraced our Nation in the estimation of the world. On the night of 20 September 1998, Anwar was illegally arrested by police special forces acting under the orders of the UMNO-BN government led by then PM Mahathir Mohammad.
The arrest and assault was part of UMNO-BN's conspiracy to fabricate sodomy and corruption charges against Anwar Ibrahim, who had been unlawfully removed as Deputy Prime Minister on 2 September 1998.
Dr M still unpunished
14 years later, the circumstances of the assault are still horrifying and remain a national trauma. While helplessly handcuffed and blindfolded, Anwar was punched and slapped repeatedly causing him to fall upon a concrete slab. He was semi-conscious and bleeding from the nose and mouth. Instead of giving him medical assistance, top police officers made him sign the ISA detention order shortly after the assault.
The entire top leadership of the UMNO-BN police force was present at the scene of the assault, but none of them lodged a police report or took any kind action on the assault. Worse, Anwar was denied any kind of medical assistance until 4 days after the assault! And while in this condition, Anwar was even forced to attend interrogations.
There is no doubt that PM Mahathir and the top Umno-BN leadership were fully aware of the assault and the conditions in which Anwar was being held. Despite this, on 1 October 1998, then Umno-BN PM Mahathir lied to the public by claiming that the injuries were self-inflicted.
Contempt for the law
Former IGP Rahim Noor
The Royal Commission of Inquiry in its report on 6 April 1999 stated that the assault upon Anwar 'seared the very soul of Malaysia'. Yet the real culprits behind the assault and subsequent cover-up have never accepted responsibilty or been brought to justice; the real culprits are the UMNO-BN leadership and former PM Mahathir.
It is UMNO-BN's utter disregard for the rule of law and manipulation of the police leadership against Anwar that led to the assault. 55 years of UMNO-BN rule had so damaged police independence and professionalism that top cops allowed this assault to happen and were party to the subsequent cover-up.
And still seeking another mandate from the people
It is thus a matter of grave concern that the lawless UMNO-BN regime is seeking a fresh mandate from the people of this country. The fabrication of the Sodomy II charges against Anwar in 2008 shows that UMNO-BN has not changed or reformed.
The assault upon our former Deputy Prime Minister and countless high-handed actions since then, proves that no Malaysian is really safe under the arbitrary and amoral rule of UMNO-BN. The assault on Anwar by the country's highest police officer starkly exemplifies the collapse of independent institutions and just governance in Malaysia under UMNO-BN.
"Police riot" was an expression coined by The Walker Commission, formed to investigate the events surrounding incidents of police brutality during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, also known as The Windy City.
It literally means a riot carried out by the police, or mass police action violently undertaken against members of a legitimate public protest for the purpose of political suppression instead of for the maintenance of public order.
A riot that the police are responsible for instigating, escalating or sustaining as a violent confrontation, characterised by extreme police brutality.
Specific to the Walker Report, it described "unrestrained and indiscriminate" violence by police "inflicted upon persons who had broken no law, disobeyed no order, made no threat".
The report, though did recognise that members of the public taking part in the 1968 protest also engaged in acts of extreme provocation.
While many disputed the slant of the contents of the report and the political ambitions of its chairperson Daniel Walker, who was then also Chicago Crime Commission chief and later Illinois governor, details used in the report have been quoted to describe that while not all the police were involved in the brutality, the actions of the few bad apples really did amount to a police riot.
Reuters
And none disputed the fact that the blanket of brutal police actions extended beyond the provocateurs, unto the many innocent and genuine protesters, and more sadly, towards the members of the press as well.
Extreme brutality by police
If we are to calmly look at events surrounding Bersih 3.0, one cannot but make the honest call that what happened during Bersih 3.0 pro-electoral reform rally, especially at the tail end of that day, may indeed have amounted to a police riot.
Reuters
Reports emerged of extreme brutality by police officers, of line rushes and police charges at retreating demonstrators. Of bleeding heads and bruised bodies.
News of potent tear gas fired indiscriminately against the crowds amid reports of widespread beatings, not only upon fleeing protesters but against detainees under police custody or control.
Members of the press also had their persons assaulted, injured and their equipment confiscated or savagely damaged.
Many were ordered not to take pictures or even eye the brutal behaviour of those who are supposed to be upholding the law and maintaining public order.
And one wonders if the police have to be more transparent with the way they conduct "riot control", for a minister claims that it is their standard operating procedure to confiscate equipment from members of the press during such times.
We must ask "why and what for"? Or else the only reason one can logically arrive at, coupled with the warning not to take pictures, is that this is suppression of the media.
Yes, there were also tales of provocative actions by some protesters, but also tales of undercover police doing the instigating.
But in the main, it is the duty of the police to be professional and keep public order. There must be a distinction between crowd control at a demonstration and suppressing a riot.
Sadly, from observing testimonies of police riot control unit officers in court, it perks up one's ears when the word they use to describe protesters is usually "perusuh" or rioters.
Even if a few 'bad apples' were really instigated during the protest and not the many more upstanding men and women of our "Blue Tiger" force, it may indeed be law enforcement running wild and rampantly riot.
But worse of all, if it was indeed police actions taken after "orders from up top," then it would mean that the events on Saturday were not a police riot but the actions of an autocratic and totalitarian government against it own people.
Adrian Hoe
Not much different from Egypt and Syria then, for not only did the protesters face the same barbed wire fencing, but also the same brutal police and autocratic dictates.
Indeed, one might ask if the barbed wire fencing and brutal police tactics are no different from what the Palestinians suffered at the hands of their Israeli invaders, albeit maybe several more degrees less.
My mind wanders to a picture circulated in social media of the barbed wire barricade surrounding the iconic Dataran Merdeka, to someone had attached a handwritten note that reads "Welcome to Tel Aviv."
Opposition parliamentarians have claimed that the July 16 edition ofThe Economist has been defaced by the Home Ministry in an apparent attempt to censor a report on the Bersih 2.0 rally for electoral reform.
“The Economist July16 issue has been censored/black inked on Bersih story by Home Ministry,” reads a tweet by Ipoh Barat MP M Kulasegaran.
In photos distributed via micro-blog site Twitter, the report headlines 'Political affray in Malaysia: Taken to the cleaners' shows lines blacked out by what seems to be a permanent marker pen.
Malaysiakini could not immediately verify the claim, but a comparison with the online version reveals that the lines struck out refer to allegations of police and government misconduct:
- 'and one man died of a heart attack', in the first paragraph.
- 'The march itself was then banned, although the authorities offered Bersih a stadium to meet in - and then withdrew the offer', in the second paragraph
- 'The heavy-handed police tactics have provoked a lot of anger; the government has conceded an official investigation into claims of police brutality. In one instance (caught on film), police seemed to fire tear gas and water cannon into a hospital where protesters were sheltering from a baton charge', in the fourth paragraph.
When contacted, Kulasegaran criticised the action as “uncalled for”.
“In this day and age only a police run state would do this. They are trying to hide writing which could be true, because (they are afraid) it will be read by the public and they will believe it. The government is still (suffering from) denial syndrome.”
The DAP leader however, dismissed the attempt as ineffectual as the full article is “available online anyway”.
PKR vice-president Tian Chua also tweeted on the matter and posted photos of the censored pages: “I'm sure @TheEconomist readers are intelligent enough to know how to get the full article, but the censorship reflects the stupidity & insecurity of an autocratic regime.”
A few rare souls seem to have been born with black marker pens in their untiring little hands.
Sad but true, the Black Marker Brigade exists. It's a quiet, diligent, anonymous league of Backroom Types whose mission on Earth - or, at least, in Malaysia - is to protect us from accidental or intentional exposure to titillation of the salacious variety. Their thankless task, in effect, is to ensure that you never have to be confronted with (and, presumably, affronted by) an image of the Female Nipple. Whenever and wherever it may appear: in imported literature, cinema posters, and comics, for instance. And so what if you've just forked out $18.75 for a reputable photography journal or glossy art magazine? How can it claim to be reputable if it's got naked pink titties in it? Hah! In the name of Art too many atrocities haved been committed. Too Much Flesh Exposed. It's time people stopped taking off their pants just so that some artist-pervert can paint them. One practiced stroke of the felt-tipped pen and... voila! Goya's Naked Maja is naked no more! A deft rub here and a quick daub there and... Hullo! Michelangelo's David is ready to meet the Malaysian public! Anytime now the Black Marker Brigade may be commissioned to bring decency and modesty back to the medical textbooks. You can bet the floors of all our book warehouses will be slippery with drool. Do members of the Black Marker Brigade go to work in sinister Ku Klux Klan-style hoods? What do they do to nude black women - do they switch to Tipp-Ex? What are the long-term consequences of membership in the Brigade? Does one go through life seeing dark spots and splotches on women's chests that can't be removed with even the most devout rubbing? What do they write in their passports under Occupation? Well, it's a dirty job - but somebody has to do it. The Stout-of-Heart and Incorruptible who attain the rank of Veteran in the Black Marker Brigade have the awful onus of ritually purifying 8 X 10 glossies and wall-sized posters of the most notorious and lascivious-looking of foreign film-stars. (God, we had a horrible experience with that disgusting Member of the Italian Parliament... what was her name? Ah yes... Cicciolina... none of us got any sleep for a week. we had no choice - it was a Standing Order from the Minister of Home Affairs.) One shudders to think of the things some people have to do to earn a living. Still, there are obviously a few rare souls who seem to have been born with black marker pens in their untiring little hands. You can easily identify them in a crowd, they're a breed apart: look for the dark ink stains on their lips and fingertips. Our hands are filthy but our minds are clean! This is the solemn credo of the Black Marker Brigade.
All freedom and justice loving Malaysians owe Ambiga Sreenevasan and the BERSIH 2.0 steering committee a mighty round of applause for putting their own necks on the line and articulating our long-standing desire to witness an end to electoral fraud through gerrymandering, phantom and postal votes, outright bribery, thuggish intimidation of voters, and a disgusting assortment of dirty tricks.
The Steering Committee of BERSIH 2.0 comprises: Dato’ Ambiga Sreenevasan (Chairperson), Andrew Khoo, Arul Prakkash, Arumugam K., Dr Farouk Musa, Haris Ibrahim, Liau Kok Fah, Maria Chin Abdullah, Richard Y W Yeoh, Dr Subramaniam Pillay, Dato’ Dr Toh Kin Woon, Dr Wong Chin Huat, Dato’ Yeo Yang Poh and Zaid Kamaruddin.
I salute Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh (president of Gerakan Mansuh ISA) for his courage, perseverance and impeccable integrity. Thank you, sir, for keeping your faith in the possibility of reform - and for continuing to demand justice on behalf of all those without a voice.
I salute each and every one of you who assembled on 1 August 2010 with candles in Petaling Jaya, Ipoh and Penang to remind the rest of us that all is hardly well in any country that clings ferociously to cruel, unjust laws to subjugate the spirit of freedom. Many of you were roughly mishandled by red-helmeted robots who serve the corrupt and criminal UMNO/BN agenda rather than democracy and the public good.
And then there were many others - in London and in Sydney - who gathered in support of the Abolish-ISA Movement in Malaysia.
Cruelty, tyranny and gross injustice - Dr Mahathir's evil legacy - will inevitably bring down Jibby the Hutt's rotten regime. Patience and fortitude, folks!
For the benefit of those of you who don't subscribe to Malaysiakini, I'm reproducing an excellent article by featured columnist Helen Ang whose lucid and no-nonsense analysis of Umno/BN's doublethink and double standards hits the nail soundly on the head. I particularly liked how Ms Ang chooses to call the home minister "the Umno minister in charge of police" - because that perfectly describes what's going on with all these counterproductive arrests of patriotic political dissidents for wearing black and lighting candles - while demented sadists in uniform (who apparently get high on torturing and beating to death helpless prisoners in their custody) continue getting paid their salaries out of the public purse. Bravo, Helen!
Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein was surprisingly low key in his first days on the job. Then on June 5, Hishammuddin finally obliged fans with his inimitable doublespeak.
On the Manohara Odelia Pinot case, the Umno minister in charge of police said: “Saya rasa tidak perlu ada cover-up langsung tetapi dalam kita membuat siasatan jangan ada penganiayaan, jangan ada perbezaan oleh kerana seseorang itu berada dalam kedudukan yang tertentu mendapat layanan, bukan layanan secara positif, layanan yang negatif, dan itu tidak adil.”
Hishammuddin assures us that police would not treat someone who is in a certain [high] position any differently. However he then proceeds to insinuate that he fears Tengku Muhammad Fakhry Petra's status as Kelantan royalty would prejudice rather than advantage the prince in police investigation.
It is Orwellian reverse psychology to imply that Fakhry, due to his family's powerful and protected position, could possibly be victimised and treated less fairly than the average Joe. Since when has any major royal who's had a brush with Malaysian law come off the worse for it?
What we've had over the last month is only Polis Di-Raja Malaysia dancing poco-poco around the prince's runaway wife and her accusations of statutory rape, marital rape, kidnap and torture.
16-year-old bride Manohara Odelia Pinot and her Kelantanese prince Tengku Fakhry Petra
Recalling in chilling detail how the estranged husband supposedly inflicted the wounds on her chest, Manohara claims in Jakarta Globe – “[Fakhry] just took his time, slowly. He looked as calm as ever. It's like if you gave someone a paintbrush and told him to draw a flower”.
I'm inclined to believe Manohara's story as there is a ring of truth to her description, such as how she didn't tell her ambitious mother about the alleged rape (behaviour congruent with confused and conflicted teen), and how she was more frightened by the helpless condition due to the temporary drug-induced paralysis than by the sight of a razor slicing her (a rather astute psychological insight for a young person to be credited with).
Nonetheless, there are sceptics who fault Manohara for making too many public appearances since her escape and posing too prettily for the cameras.
But I for one can understand why she felt the need to recount her ordeal in numerous meetings with the press. It's the battle to win public opinion when one is a foreigner in Malaysia up against a privileged institution the local populace is well-trained not to criticise.
Kelantan deputy police chief Amir Hamzah Ibrahim had warned that blogs considered to have defamed the Kelantan monarchy are being investigated under the Penal Code. It would be hard to blame Malaysians if they see the police as protecting particular persons while at the same time intimidating the ordinary citizen.
Hence it's lucky for her that Manohara is Indonesian and has an American biological father as well as a French stepfather, and commands sympathetic international media attention. Abuse victims in Malaysia who are less glamorous do not attract the same interest, especially if they're poor Indian males.
Police lock-up a dangerous place
Indians are the ethnic group in absolute numbers most numerously held under police remand. For them, contact with police is more deadly than swine flu contagion. Men die in police custody and show signs of abuse on their bodies. After death, they are abused some more by the authorities and mainstream media with unproven aspersions cast on their character.
This is how The Star on Tuesday reported the death of 53-year-old A Gnanapragasam. Its headline blared: 'Suspected thief died in lock-up due to infection.' Does the deceased being portrayed as a suspected criminal mitigate the human loss occasioned by his death? Gnanapragasam leaves behind a widow and eight children.
Another individual who died in police custody, A. Kugan was labelled 'suspected car thief.' Neither man had even been brought to court to face charges. Other Indians shot dead by police or who died in the lock-up were 'suspected armed robbers,' 'suspected rapists,' 'suspected gangsters,' etc. Not to forget, the Hindraf 5 lawyers, say Polis Di-Raja Malaysia, were suspected to have links with terrorists.
But rest assured we would never hear police top brass speculating that Tengku Fakhry is a 'suspected wife abuser.'
Contrary to Hishammuddin's disingenuous assertion on the fairness of police conduct, it's evident that the police do not apply the same standards to the under-privileged as compared to the privileged. Nothing has come out of the investigation into the death of Uthaya Chandran who turned 23 in Sungai Buloh prison last April and who was found dead on his birthday.
If they belong to the lower socio-economic order, then Indians be they young or old have a greater chance than the average person of suffering police abuse. Last August, police picked up N. Logeswaran, 10, from his school for suspected theft. Parti Sosialis Malaysia deputy chairman M. Sarasvathy, who took up his case, said police slapped Logeswaran on his face and tried to choke him.
“They even tried to melt some plastic on the boy’s private parts and it got his leg,” said Sarasvathy in Perak.
How can we trust police?
Recently in Taman Tennamaram, Selangor, 58-year-old grandma P. Thanggama was hauled from her home by a police raiding party at one o'clock in the morning. She was detained overnight at the police station to have her statement recorded for police investigation into gangsterism.
On June 9, The Malay Mail carried an article with the headline 'You can still trust the police, says Selangor top cop' which quoted state police chief Khalid Abu Bakar (right) saying, “The people should understand that my men have a job to do and they do it fairly. They must understand there was also a police report lodged against the grandmother for rioting and that was why she was picked up.”
A 'suspected rioter' granny now, eh? Selangor CPO Khalid, like Malaysian politicians, says the darndest things.
In the Gnanapragasam case, national news agency Bernama and the Malay papers Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian reported deputy inspector-general of police Ismail Omar relating how the deceased was a hardcore drug addict.
The police are trigger-happy in firing their slurs at Indians but otherwise show commendable restraint in refraining from adverse comments on the Kelantan prince.
Assurances from Hishammuddin, Khalid and other bigwigs about police acting fairly will not allay public distrust of the police.
The police station is the last place members of the public would want to be kept, however briefly. Kugan spent five days with police and was taken out in a body bag. Gnanapragasam was with police four days and died under their watch.
Gnanapragasam's wife saw that her husband had bruised eyes when he was brought before the magistrate two days before his death. He had also complained to the magistrate on beating and torture by police. But Petaling Jaya police chief ACP Arjunaidi Mohammed said the autopsy did not trace any bruises or injuries on the body, and appealed to the public not to believe rumours.
Deputy IGP Ismail, commenting on Gnanapragasam's sudden death, said according to police procedure, a magistrate and a doctor would be brought over to look at or examine the body before it was removed.
That's a bit too late, don't you think?
HELEN ANG is a Malaysiakini columnist. She was arrested for dressing in black on 7 May 2009 near the Perak state assembly.
The 10-man committee headed by Malaysian Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican which was formed to investigate the ‘differences in post-mortem reports of A. Kugan’ has concluded that “all body injuries noted on the deceased were insufficient, either individually or collectively to cause death directly.”
Firstly, on what basis did the committee perform their task, considering that the two post-mortem reports were diametrically opposed to each other? It was one report against the other and the body was already buried. And yet without doing another autopsy, how can this committee make a conclusion on the cause of death?
The second autopsy report had concluded that the first report was erroneous and did not state the correct cause of death, but the committee overruled this report in favour of the first. On what basis was this call made? It is an insult to the Malaysian public’s intelligence to have a sham 10-man committee formed just to exonerate the guilty police officers who have senselessly murdered a 22 year old.
I am appalled at Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican’s cheek to state that blunt force trauma could have led to acute renal failure which aggravated acute myocarditis, resulting in acute pulmonary oedema and then in the next sentence claim that death was not ‘directly’ caused by body injuries. Without further examination of the body, the committee overruled the cause of death stated by the second report. Even ignoring this, he essentially says that Kugan was brutally beaten repeatedly to the extent of causing his kidneys to fail which then caused his death and yet claims that the death was not a ‘direct’ result of the injuries.
I ask Dr Ismail Merican this: “You said that blunt force trauma caused acute renal failure. Isn’t this by itself a life threatening situtation? A person with acute renal failure inevitably dies. And according to the doctor who performed the second autopsy, this was indeed what happened. How on earth do you have the guts to stand up and make the claim that death was not caused directly by injuries?”
Are you playing with semantics here? This is a person’s life we are talking about. If kidney failure and pulmonary oedema resulted from the blunt force trauma, does that make the death ‘indirect’ and as a result exonerate the police from the crime of their deed? If one were to cut off a person’s hand and the person dies of bleeding, would we say that he died from lack of blood in his heart and he did not die directly from the injury but an indirect cause? Plainly put, this is clear (pardon my usage of the term) bullshit.
Dr Ismail, it is evident from your semantic play of words and unconvincing overruling of the second postmortem without valid reason that you and your 10-man committee are acting to protect the interests of those who walk in the corridors of power. It is clear that you have no conscience, no soul and no moral principles. By trying to avoid bringing to justice those involved in this murder, you have become an active participant in this crime.
You are clearly acting under fear of those higher up or clearly for personal rewards. By acting in such a cowardly manner, you have lost all moral authority that the Hippocratic oath had bestowed upon the noble profession of a doctor.
Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican, you sir, are a liar.
I challenge the new prime minister Najib Tun Razak to walk the talk and bring transparency and accountability to our public service and bring those involved in this vile crime to justice. If not, this will count as the first failure of your administration, the first nail in the coffin.
Sree Sudheesh
From Malaysiakini: At a press conference held at the Bar Council Legal Aid Centre at the Jalan Duta court complex this afternoon, Kugan’s visibly emotional father G. Ananthan (right) pleaded for the return of the samples.
“If a further post-mortem needs to be conducted, I will personally dig up my son’s corpse. I will lift up my son’s corpse,” he said.
“His killers are still running free. There is no need to find his killers. They are all in the police station. There is enough evidence, all we want now is justice.”
In the aftermath of the horrific death of A. Kugan when he was in police custody, Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai reportedly asked the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) to examine the two post-mortem reports on the car theft suspect. He said this in view of a complaint lodged by Kugan’s mother N. Indra with the MMC.
The very next day, almost in knee-jerk fashion, the Health Ministry director-general, over whom the MCA minister has zero control, stated that the Malaysian Medical Council has acted against 13 doctors — including striking the names of two of them off the medical register — for various offences last year.
MMC inquiries go on for ages. Why make a statement regarding their status within 24 hours after Liow’s well-intentioned statement?
The DG either appears to have taken Liow’s request as an affront and published the names of these ‘errant’ doctors for the public to view. Or maybe he just wanted to show Liow who really is the boss.
But Merican coming to the defence of the beleaguered Indonesian pathologist Karim Tajuddin whilst running down University Malaya’s expatriate pathologist Prashant N Samberkar even as the MMC hearing is ongoing is nothing short of disgraceful. His media statement on the pathological features that caused Kugan’s death is clearly designed to get the government off the hook by trying to hoodwink the very public whom he thinks can be fooled, by rehashing and re-categorising the quantum and extent of the battered boy’s injuries.
He blatantly tries to cover up the cause of death by shifting the primary etiology of trauma as the precipitating factor causing Kugan’s death to underlying acute myocarditis as the predisposing factor that hastened the boy’s eventual renal shutdown and ultimate pulmonary edema (‘water in the lungs’).
The timing of the Kugan statement means that the director-general of health sees it convenient to make use the supposedly independent Malaysian Medical Council of which he is puzzlingly president.
With a health DG more interested in playing politics, is there any wonder why we have a relentless mosquito-borne epidemic with almost half of this country’s population hypertensive and diabetic? Forget about Sabahans in Kota Kinabalu who don’t even have a general hospital anymore.
With this DG’s reckless disregard compounded further by his lack of attention in providing quality healthcare access for the Malaysian public, Merican should perhaps take his mask off and instead do what he really aspires to be… stand as an Umno candidate in the very next by-election.
Dr Prashant N. Samberkar, the pathologist from the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre, declared that, based on the post-mortem, Kugan was beaten so badly his tissues broke down and his kidneys failed.
The second post-mortem performed on A. Kugan shows he died from being repeatedly beaten. The post-mortem, which was conducted by Dr Prashant N. Samberkar, a pathologist attached to the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC), also shows that Kugan had multiple burn marks. These V-shaped burn marks are believed to have been caused by a hot iron.
The post-mortem also found 42 other marks, burns and contusions from the sole of his feet right up to his head. Dr Prashant declared that, based on the post-mortem, Kugan was beaten so badly his tissues broke down and his kidneys failed.
Dr Prashant also found that Kugan had suffered haemorrhaging in his trachea, chest, spleen, stomach, the back of his neck and spine, and there were also signs of haemorrhaging in his heart. The soles of his feet had many bruises caused by beatings and he also suffered blunt trauma to his skull.
[View Dr Prashant's 12-page post-mortem report here.]
Courtesy of Malaysiakini.tv, 3 March 2009 THE POLICE PERSONNEL INVOLVED IN A. KUGAN'S PAINFUL DEATH-BY-TORTURE MUST BE SACKED, BROUGHT TO TRIAL, AND IMPRISONED. THREE MEN MUST BEAR ULTIMATE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIS UGLY INCIDENT AND RESIGN IMMEDIATELY...
Selangor CPO Khalid Abu Bakar, IGP Musa Hassan & Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar
Today, to celebrate Chinese New Year, RPK sends his second open letter to Pak Lah, which touches on the problem of police brutality and the vote of no confidence against Najib in the recent Kuala Terengganu by-election.
Yang Amat Berhormat Dato' Seri Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi Prime Minister of Malaysia Prime Minister's Office Main Block Perdana Putra Building Federal Government Administrative Centre 62502 Putrajaya MALAYSIA
Dear Pak Lah,
Kong Hee Fatt Choy, Pak Lah. I trust this second open letter finds you in good health. I was told by a reliable source that you read my first open letter. So I thought, since this appears to be the only way to reach you, I would send you a second open letter. I truly hope you get to read this one as well.
Sorry I was not able to also send you my Selamat Hari Raya Puasa wishes. It is not that Chinese New Year is more important than Hari Raya. During Hari Raya Puasa I was in the Kamunting Detention Centre, courtesy of your government. So, I sort of missed Hari Raya, if you know what I mean. But I believe my friends did attend your open house at the PWTC to send you Hari Raya wishes on my behalf, wearing ‘Free RPK’ T-shirts, much to the chagrin of the police who summoned them to the police station later for their ‘statements to be recorded’.
In the past I used to be sad if I was ever away from the family on Hari Raya, not that it happened too often. Even rough and tough Malaysian soldiers serving overseas cry on Hari Raya, so I was told. So it’s not lack of macho that makes you sad when parted from the family on Hari Raya. This time, however, anger overcame my sadness. Instead of being sad, I decided to ‘boycott’ Hari Raya. Maybe anger is a stronger emotion. Anyway, I did not celebrate the recent Hari Raya Haji as well, though I had already been released from detention by then. I have sort of shut out Hari Raya from my mind and have convinced myself that the festival does not exist. I think, from now on, Hari Raya no longer means anything to me.
I suppose this is very useful considering the Attorney General is appealing the Shah Alam High Court decision releasing me from ISA detention. The government’s appeal will be heard in the Federal Court in Putrajaya on 11 February 2009 and if the Federal Court allows the appeal then I will be sent back to Kamunting to serve my two years detention order. So it is necessary that I continue being angry and not get sad about things like being under detention on Hari Raya. Anger makes you strong to resist the powers-that-be. Sadness weakens you.
I really don’t know if the Federal Court will uphold the Shah Alam High Court’s decision to free me. If it does, well and good. But if it overturns that decision then you better get ready for a bloody fight, Pak Lah. Sure, the government can ‘legally’ send me back to Kamunting. But I shall be going back there screaming and kicking. The government is going to see a fight never before seen in the history of the almost 50 years of the ISA. And this is no threat. It is a promise. And, as I said, anger is an extremely powerful emotion, which can make you move mountains.
Anyway, that is not the purpose of this open letter. What I want to talk about today is with regards to the current controversy swamping this country, in particular the police brutality issue. This is actually not something new. It has been going on since before Merdeka. When I was a teenager in the 1960s I have personally witnessed and experienced many incidences of police beatings. Your late wife Endon’s brother, Osman, can testify to this. When I got my motorcycle licence at the age of 15 in 1965, my first bike ride was with Osman. I fetched him from your house in Bellamy Road and we went Jackie’s Bowl in Jalan Ampang and got high on weed all night long.
You see, Pak Lah, in those days we used to sport long hair and wear tight trousers and the police somehow became very upset with this ‘fashion statement’. The police would push a bottle down our trousers and if it could not fall to our feet then we would get beaten up. The same applied to our hair. If it dropped over our forehead or touched our ears we would get beaten up as well. So imagine what we had to go through in the 1960s since we had long hair and wore tight trousers. As I said, Osman, the brother of your late wife, can tell you more about this as we used to run in the same pack.
One night in 1965, while waiting at a bus stop along Jalan Ampang (in front of the El Chico next to the AIA building), a few of us -- Tun Dr Siti Hasmah’s nephew, Azlan Aziz, included -- were picked up by the police. Our only ‘crime’ was that we were sitting at the bus stop. The police took us to the High Street Police Station and we were all asked to line up to witness the police beating up a Chinese youth. They beat him real bad and he was coughing blood. I don’t know if he died after that but I would not want to put my money on whether he survived.
It became so bad that whenever we saw the police we would run away. We actually became quite good at it. For example, once, about ten of us were sitting on our bikes in front of the HKL and a police van stopped and about a dozen police jumped out. We leaped on our bikes and managed to escape just as the police were within an arms-length from us. They pursued us along Jalan Tun Razak with little success. Our bike numbers were on the top-ten list of the police’s ‘most wanted’ but they never caught us. We knew if they did they would beat the shit out of us so it was definitely an ‘incentive’ for us to never get caught.
That was how it was back in the 1960s and, trust me, it has not changed one bit. The police still beat the shit out of you if you ever find yourself in the most unfortunate situation of ending up in their lockup. In fact, your Director of the CID, Bakri Zinin, once beat me up in March 2001 in front of my wife and six other detainees and about a dozen police personnel.
My only ‘crime’ was that I had walked into the Dang Wangi Police Station. I had not committed any crime or was under arrest. I had, on my own accord, walked into the police station and Bakri Zinin happened to be in the mood to beat someone up. So he beat me up. After he beat me up he arrested me and kept me overnight in the lockup under no charges whatsoever. That is how your police operate. And these are all Muslims, mind you. I bet they even pray five times a day and their wives wear tudongs. Now do you know why I am most unkind to Muslims? Many are hypocrites of the highest degree.
I know you tried to implement the IPCMC but were prevented from doing so. And the reason you are not able to implement the IPCMC is because the police, whom represent the major portion of postal voters, threatened to vote opposition if you do. (IPCMC: Police threaten to vote for the Opposition).
In the March 2008 general election, the opposition needed only 300,000 more votes to form the federal government. Therefore, if the postal votes had gone to the opposition, Barisan Nasional would have been out of power. To ensure that the postal votes remained with Barisan Nasional you succumbed to the threats and agreed to compromise on the IPCMC.
In that sense, Pak Lah, you are indirectly responsible for the continuing problem of police brutality. What the police are doing is your fault. This is a classic case of the tail wagging the dog and not the dog wagging the tail. Maybe you would like to reconsider your decision on the IPCMC and demonstrate to the nation that you, and not the police, are running this country.
While on the subject of the police, let it be known that the police managed to reduce Pakatan Rakyat’s majority in the recent Kuala Terengganu by-election from more than 7,000 votes to a mere 2,631. And I have this on video if you would like to see the evidence. You know that the opposition’s majority in the Kuala Terengganu by-election was much higher than 2,631. And I am sure this is troubling you to no end. And I am equally sure you know that this is because the people do not want Najib Tun Razak to take over as Prime Minister in March. As much as you may try to deny this you know I am spot on.
At 3.00pm on Polling Day, the police set up ten roadblocks and no one in town could get out nor those outside town could get in. Kuala Terengganu was totally cordoned off and the traffic jams were so massive that the town was reduced to a gridlock. I was arguing with the police at three different locations and, as I said, I have this on video. At one roadblock, when the police told me that this was ‘arahan dari atas’, I responded by saying that ‘kalau orang atas bodoh dan kita ikut arahan tersebut maka kita juga bodoh’. You should have seen the police stare at me. They looked like they wanted to kill me.
By 4.00pm, voting almost ground to a halt and the 74% voter turnout troubled me. 74% was too low and since the SPR had announced earlier that morning that the voter turnout was going to be 80% I was worried that this would mean another 6% or so are going to be ‘phantom voters’. True enough, an hour later, when polling ended, the voter turnout jumped to 81%. It was later ‘adjusted’ to 79%. This means 5% to 7% additional votes came in although no one was voting any longer. This represents about 5,000 votes or thereabouts.
Say what you like, the opposition not only won the Kuala Terengganu by-election, but it won with a large majority. And this was in spite of Najib and his wife campaigning fulltime in Terengganu and the RM500 million that was committed to the by-election effort. No doubt RM400 million was spent indirectly when Najib launched the special investment fund. Nevertheless, this RM400 million was still for purposes of the by-election and no one can deny this.
Mind you, the RM500 million is just my conservative estimate. It could be more. But it still makes the Kuala Terengganu by-election the most expensive by-election in Malaysian history and yet Barisan Nasional lost, whether it was by 2,631 votes or 7,631 votes. The police air-conditioned tents alone came to RM10 million. The food, at about RM50 to RM60 per day per person over three weeks, came to another RM10 million. Then there was the outstation allowance and so on. I estimate the cost of stationing 8,000 police personnel in Kuala Terengganu over three weeks at about RM25 million to RM30 million. And it could actually be more considering the normal ‘leakages’ in government expenditure.
Then there are the many free dinners and the RM300 to RM1,000 ‘Ang Pows’ for the 80,000 or so voters. Even the press people received RM300 Ang Pows each, though none were offered to the Bloggers, for whatever reason I do not know.
Are you happy, Pak Lah, that Najib spent about RM500 million in the most expensive by-election in Malaysian history and Barisan Nasional still lost? How does this reflect on the confidence the people have in Najib? Do you know that the ‘battle-cry’ in the Kuala Terengganu by-election was the song ‘Najib Altantuya Mongolia’ sung to the tune ‘When the Saints Come Marching in’? Young Malays from the kampong who you would least expect to know this ‘Christian’ song were singing this song.
Yes, say what you like, the Kuala Terengganu by-election was not a by-election. It was a vote of no confidence against Najib. And it was the Malays who voted against Najib -- and young Malays at that, Malays from the kampong. Did not Musa Hitam and Ghafar Baba, both one-time Deputy Prime Ministers, say that Umno’s strength is in the rural areas and that Umno needs to gain the support of the kampong Malays to stay in power? Well, the kampong Malays have spoken on 21 January 2009 in the Kuala Terengganu by-election. I am just not sure whether you heard them; that’s all. If you did not then I am telling you now. The young Malays from the kampong have said no to Najib. Do you still want to ignore this message and doom Umno to the political graveyard?
There is much more I need to tell you but allow me to end my open letter here, for the meantime. I now need to go attend the PKR Chinese New year open house in Kelang and go hassle Anwar Ibrahim on this Anti-ISA thing that I want the five Pakatan Rakyat states to commit themselves to.
Till we talk again, take care, as there are many surrounding you with daggers drawn -- which makes Julius Caesar’s predicament a picnic by comparison. Is it not ironical that in your present situation you can trust your enemies more than your friends? Anyway, once again, Kong Hee Fatt Choy, Pak Lah.
Four family members of Kugan filed the police report today and they were joined by lawyers, human rights activists and several politicians from both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat.
Among them were PKR's Kapar MP S Manikavasagam, DAP's Puchong MP Gobind Singh and Teluk Intan's DAP MP M Manoharan.
Also present was a group of MIC Youth members led by its head T Mohan. Hindraf representative, led by S Jayathas, were also there.
Some 80 people had also gathered at the police station to show their anger over Kugan's death.
They held up banners with pictures of the deceased, showing the injuries he sustained while in police custody.
Some of the banners read: "Police are licensed killers", "Police are killing Indians" and "Police are thirsty for Indian blood" in both Malay and English. They also briefly chanted slogans demanding a probe into Kugan's death.
Heavy police presence
Talking to reporters later, Kugan's family members said that the deceased did not suffer from asthma and could not have died from breathing difficulties as claimed by the police.
Manikavasagam and Gobind added that the police were attempting to cover up the death and that there should be a full and open investigation by the Home Ministry, which oversees the police department.
Manikavasagam also said that he would organise rallies to protest against the police.
The crowd then dispersed peacefully after gathering for about 30 minutes.
There was a heavy police presence outside of the station while the police report was being lodged.
Eight Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) vehicles were parked within sight of the police station.
Yesterday Khalid told reporters that Kugan had asked for a glass of water during interrogation and upon drinking the water, he collapsed and lost consciousness.
"A doctor from a clinic nearby who was summoned to examine the man, and later confirmed that he had died," he had said.
The state police chief also said that a thorough probe would be conducted on the matter and asked people not to speculate on the cause of death.
WARNING! Due to the distressing nature of the following material, viewer discretion is strongly advised...
[All images from Malaysiakini or captured from video footage]
I'm so angry right now I'll just let the images speak on my behalf...
[This post was inspired by a long comment an anonymous poster left on my blog last week. I had read about a courageous High Court judge named Hishamudin Mohd Yunus who awarded former ISA detainee Abdul Malek Hussin RM2.5 million in damages and declared his 1998 arrest and detention under the ISA unwarranted and mischievous. Lim Kit Siang reports that the Barisan Nasional MP for Jerai, Badruddin Amiruldin, openly attacked Justice Hishamudin Mohd Yunus from the floor of Parliament during his speech on the 2008 Budget, denouncing Hishamuddin as a “problem judge” for his decision on the Malek Hussin case. Well, folks, it's high time we banished the mediocre and medieval BN from misgoverning the country. They're what stands in the way of our getting all political detainees released, abolishing the malicious ISA, and demolishing the Kamunting Detention Center.]
People often forget incidents of the past but for former ISA detainee Abdul Malek Hussin, one horror event will forever be etched in his mind - his 57 days of living hell in detention.
Abdul Malek Hussin, 51, was this week awarded RM2.5 million in damages against the government over his arrest and torture in 1998. This was the result of a civil suit he filed in March 1999, naming special branch officer Borhan Daud, the then Inspector General of Police Abdul Rahim Noor and the government as respondents.
It has been nine years since the chairperson of polls watchdog Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel) was detained under the obnoxious Internal Security Act and he recollects every moment of it in an interview with Malaysiakini.
Here are some excerpts:
Can you relate to us what happened then - what did they do to you and how you felt?
When (former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim) was expelled by the government on allegations of immoral activities, there was widespread dissent among the people against the injustice of (Anwar’s arrest) and as a private citizen, I undertook to support the cause of justice for Anwar. I was among the many who were unhappy with how the government under Dr Mahathir (Mohamad) used and abused powers to expel Anwar, and I decided to show my support.
I was involved with the reformasi movement from the first day - on Sept 4, 1998. After the arrest of Anwar Ibrahim, I took the initiative to organise another massive gathering to demand the release of Anwar and the resignation of Mahathir and Inspector-General of Police Abdul Rahim Noor then. I led the gathering at Masjid Negara on September 25, five days after Anwar was arrested.
(Later that day) I was arrested at my home. It was about 10-11pm and I was staying in Ampang. I returned (home) in a car driven by a friend who dropped me (off) about 200 metres from my house and the police arrested me at the gate. I was handcuffed and forced to open the gate of my house by the arresting party led by ASP Borhan Daud.
First, he forced me to open (my house door) and of course I asked him, “Why are you handcuffing me?” and he said I was being arrested under the ISA. I asked, “Why do you need to handcuff me?” He said, “ISA” - and I asked him, “What's the reason for my arrest?” (and he said) “ISA.” He mentioned it like some mechanical and robotic answer that everything was (under the) ISA.
He then said he wanted to conduct a search in my house and I asked him where was the warrant. In fact, I asked for the warrant of arrest under the ISA. He said it was not necessary and I asked him why and he said well, ISA, and he said I should know that.
He wanted to search my house and I asked him where was the warrant of search and again, he said it was not necessary, and I asked him why, and he said (again) ISA. I called my kids and my family to open the door and the policemen went in with their shoes, straightaway to the ground floor and the first floor of my house.
Then they went to my study room and ransacked and checked all my documents. He entered my master bedroom where my wife and children were sleeping. My wife was shocked and asked me what was happening and I showed her the handcuffs and when she asked me why, I said, “ISA.”
They confiscated some documents and they also recorded the documents. After 40 minutes in my house, they told me to leave with them. I was then asked where was my car. Borhan forced me to show him my car and I said I was driven by a friend and I was dropped about 200 metres away. I showed Borhan exactly the spot where I was dropped.
My friend had just left the scene. (Borhan) became so angry and irritated by my response that he slapped me there and then - the pain I can feel until today. There is this drizzling sound I am still hearing it now, until today. I think I have got more than 40-50 percent hearing loss in my left ear. When this was brought up in the courts, Borhan denied it.
After that, he forced me into the car, it was not a police car, it was an unmarked car. I was told to wear a certain (pair of) spectacles with blurred vision but then I realised that the frame here (on the left) was broken and I told them that it was broken and they told me to (take off) my specs, and one of the officers (took) off his black T-shirt and wrapped my whole head (inside it).
You can imagine the smell from the T-shirt which he must have worn from early morning and it was then midnight. It was so smelly. The worst thing is the smell of a Special Branch officer's T-shirt. They forced me down inside the car. I knelt down and was told not to look anywhere because they did not want me to know where I would be taken.
They drove, and about a few minutes later the car stopped at a location. I didn't know where. They then carried me up a staircase of a building which later turn out to be the IPK (Kuala Lumpur Police Contingent headquarters).
They brought me to a room and I was told to sign a certain (piece of) paper which stated that I was arrested under the ISA prepared by Borhan - so Borhan was the arresting officer.
After that they told me to undress - to take off my shirt and my trousers. I thought that was okay because I knew ISA detainees would be given a special detention uniform - blue in colour - so I thought I would be given a new uniform.
(After) I undressed myself completely, suddenly an officer handcuffed me very tightly from the back and there were about six to eight officers in front of me in a small room on the first floor. I was handcuffed and they blindfolded me with two (pieces of) black cloth and I was completely disoriented. I did not know who they were so I guess they were all the arresting officers led by Borhan.
Then Borhan kicked and punched me, and I can hear his voice right in front of me... I can recognise his voice. One officer took a hard object and hit me on the right leg, another officer hit me on the left leg and then they started punching my face. Then I was given a flying kick, a side kick...
Soon I fell unconscious for the first time, and they poured water and forced me to stand up again and I fell unconscious again - all in all a total of five times. And I also counted how many times I was hit by using my fingers - altogether it was 63 hits. After that I could not withstand it and I passed out. That was what I could recall consciously.
In one of those moments, I was hit by a very powerful punch and suddenly my blindfold dropped down and right in front of me was (Abdul) Rahim Noor who was wearing a red (boxing) glove. He was wearing an Indonesian batik (shirt), dark trousers and brown polished shoes. I could remember and I described that in court in detail.
And because the (blindfold) had fallen, I was shocked and he was also shocked because I could recognise him and he just ran away behind the door, and the officers all fled the scene because they did not want to be recognised. Then they turned me to the wall and blindfolded me again and the beating went on until I passed out.
When I regained consciousness, it was still before 4am. They told me to go to another room with the air-cond in full blast. I was still stripped naked and my body was aching from the beatings. The air-cond was right in the middle of the room, and for every couple of minutes they poured cold water on my head... I was shivering. They asked me whether I was cold and I said yes, and they poured more cold water until about 4.30 am. Then they stopped, no questions asked.
During that ordeal, Borhan asked me if I was thirsty after all the beatings and I said “Of course.” Then suddenly one person would be holding me from the back and another opening my mouth wide open with his fingers. They then poured this dirty, rancid tasting liquid into my mouth. It was urine and they told me it was urine. Their urine, not mine. They just peed between them and they forced into my mouth two cans of their urine.
When they asked if I was hungry or not, I said, “Of course, I am hungry.” Borhan told his officers to prepare tahi anjing (dog faeces) for me. It was near to my mouth, I could smell the stench.
And he threatened me that he wanted to use the syringe which contains HIV virus to be injected into my body because I told him, “You better kill me. What's the point? What are you trying to prove? What are you doing here? Why are you so cruel?” I asked them. (He said) “Oh you wanna die, oh then we'll kill you slowly, we'll put the HIV virus into you”. Of course, they didn't do that.
After about 5am, they stopped the beatings. I think they were also tired and went home.
On September 26, by mid-afternoon, I was taken to Bukit Aman and placed in solitary confinement only to see sunshine on the 28th day of my detention. So if you ask what's my feeling about that, (it was) very cruel and inhumane. (The police) are not human. I feel even animals have compassion. Even dogs know their masters and even dogs don't bite any other people. They are worst than dogs. If people say they are anjing kerajaan (government dogs), I think at that time they were worse then dogs.
How were you treated there (in Bukit Aman)?
I wasn't allowed to contact anybody. A couple of days later, before the 28th day, they asked if I wanted to see my family. Of course, before meeting the family they would arrange a special session for me not to mention anything about what happened to me, not to give any hint that I was tortured and to show to the family that everything was okay, and to convince my family (not to file) a habeas corpus (a court application challenging the detention) or else (I) will not be released. So the threat was there.
And I told my investigating officers in Bukit Aman that I was tortured in IPK (Kuala Lumpur Police Contingent headquarters) and I want to make a police report against Borhan, they said, “No, you don't need to - we have already taken action against Borhan”. Which was, of course, not true.
I was not given any opportunity to lodge any report, not given any opportunity to meet my lawyer, no access to my family and I was only given medical attention a couple of days later in Bukit Aman.
I told the doctor and he checked me and it was confirmed in the medical report about the bruises on the left leg, the right leg, the abdomen... I complained to Dr Vasantha Ponniah about what happened to me and she had testified in court about my condition based on the bruises that I sustained.
(The) Special Branch (police) methodology is (to) give harsh treatment on the first day as a very strong reminder to the detainees that things are going to be worse if we fail to give our cooperation. It's more psychological in nature. And of course in Bukit Aman it is already more institutionalised in terms of how they handle the detainees.
I was under solitary confinement, there was no sunshine, I did not know whether it was the morning, I did not know at all. On the 28th day, on the (day of) family visit when I was taken to IPK from Bukit Aman - I really appreciate the sunlight, it was wow, the beauty of the sunrays. I tell you, it was beautiful.
What was interrogation like?
I was subjected to interrogation for 17 days on the third floor of the (Bukit Aman) building. They would ask me questions from the morning, afternoon, until evening and then sometimes, late in the night. Once when they were dissatisfied with what was going on outside where people were still gathering on Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman (and) in Kampung Baru, they were unhappy so they call me very late in the night for further interrogation until early morning.
During the course of the interrogation by Bukit Aman officers, the questions they asked day in and day out - questions about the reformasi movement, on Anwar Ibrahim, his relationship with this person and that person.
Then Nurul Izzah was meeting (deposed Philippines president Joseph) Estrada in the Philippines and (former US secretary of state) Madeline Albright. I was inside and the activities were outside, and they were asking me what was this Gerak (reformasi coalition) and that was formed, and about political reform, on PAS, on whether ISA should be abolished or not.
They deprived me of utensils if they found I was not cooperative enough. (They would) pull out the mattress or take away the pillows. After the family visited, they told me I would only be detained for a month and they would release me. (They said) if I do not get the recommendation to release me, then they would extend it until the end, and it went on until the 57th day.
There were also days when they (did) nothing. They would send the food and at that time, I got food it was like packed rice and fish with maggots. That means it was done on purpose. I mean we were detainees and this food was supposed to be provided by the government ... this means the state had provided me with rotten food.
What happened after your release?
I was released on November 21 and subjected to some kind of monitoring... appointed by the Special Branch to monitor my activities. I have to report to them and they even threatened me that I could even be re-arrested.
I must cooperate with them and the psychology was that they have the power to re-arrest me. So there was that constant fear in me of being re-arrested. It took me quite some time to gather the strength and courage to lodge a police report, and I arrived at that decision in March (1999).
What influenced me much more was when the government decided to form the royal commission on (Anwar’s black eye incident) when we read about the testimony of Dr Vasantha Ponniah. Then I remembered “Well, that's the lady who treated me.” I thought that was some help. I thought that with the formation of the royal commission there will be some space to make a complaint.
From then on (during the trial), when I was cross-examined in the court, they asked me why I took such a long time. Well, this is not a road accident. This is something you have been tortured, subjected to. You need to rebuild that courage back.
Were you scared? Did you ever feel like giving up?
I tried not to look scared although I was very scared. I feel the Special Branch (officers) are almost everywhere. (I felt) intimidated but to regain that, you have to meet people, and you have to talk to people. Slowly, I started to tell people (about) what (had) happened in detention.
They were really surprised. Then friends convinced me - why not I speak out, and in February I spoke at an event organised by (opposition alliance Malaysian People's Movement for Justice) Gerak by (the late former PAS president) Fadzil Noor in Kuala Lumpur's Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall in February 1999.
I regained my courage and you have to make the most of the (police) report. And you have the understanding that you (would) be accused of making a false report. I have to prepare a very lengthy police report and very detailed and an affidavit to file for the civil suit.
How does your family feel about all this?
They are used to what I have been doing. They are very supportive of my activities. The fact that my children and wife knew that I’ve already resolved to report (on) activities for the rights of the people, political activities or social activism.
They've been very supportive in the sense that there has been no resentment from my family.
I SALUTE MALEK HUSSIN & JUSTICE HISHAMUDDIN MOHD YUNUS FOR THEIR COURAGE IN BRINGING TO LIGHT THE HIDEOUS DARKNESS THAT LURKS UNDER THE CYNICAL GUISE OF "NATIONAL SECURITY."
THOSE WHO CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THE ISA DESERVE TO BE WRITTEN OFF AS HUMAN BEINGS.
“The Economist July16 issue has been censored/black inked on Bersih story by Home Ministry,” reads a tweet by Ipoh Barat MP M Kulasegaran.
When contacted, Kulasegaran criticised the action as “uncalled for”.
