Standby: Lights, Camera, Action!

On August 1st 2007, Teganita posted a statement HERE about an unnamed Malaysian senior minister in an alleged rape case of an Indonesian Maid named Robengah who was then currently under Migrant Care investigation.

There was no official response about that allegation for a long time. I am not sure if Teganita (in the 3. 5yrs since that report) has received any official response either.

In late December 2009, Rocky Bru, Sakmongkol and Another Brick in the Wall also blogged about a said Wikileaks series of diplomatic whisper in 2007 regarding the alleged rape of an Indonesian maid by a Cabinet minister then.

Note: There was NO reaction from the parties concerned after these were posted in cyberspace. In fact, SILENCE prevailed till 5th January, 2011.

On 5th January 2011, The Malaysian Insider reported that a representative of a PKR-linked group called Malaysian Youth Solidarity (SAMM), Norazizi Aziz, lodged the report based on a document that has been circulating on the Internet since late last month.

Hours later on the same day, The Malaysian Insider reported HERE that Minister of Information, Communications and Culture Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim denied the allegation today that he had raped his maid in 2007.

“I deny every allegation made, whether it involves raping any individual four years ago or other accusations published by wild writers on the internet or any political party,” said Rais in a statement published through state news agency Bernama.

Today, The Star and Free Malaysia Today reported that the Indonesian maid, said to be the rape victim of Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim, has denied the allegation. Both sources quoted THIS SITEwithout giving the exact link.

Anyway, I searched the site and found the exact report AT THIS LINK in the article titled Migrant Care Stop Advokasi Pemerkosaan TKI Atas Permintaan Korban written by Elvan Dany Sutrisno. Excerpt from the report:

Jakarta - TKI Rubingah (46) mengatakan tidak pernah diperkosa menteri Malaysia Rais Yatim. Migrant Care yang pernah menerima pengaduan Rubingah pun menghentikan advokasi sesuai permintaan dia.

"Advokasi di tahun 2007 kami hentikan karena korban tidak mau kasus tersebut dipublikasi atau diteruskan ke ranah hukum," ujar Direktur Eksekutif Migrant Care, Anis Hidayah, kepada detikcom, Jumat (7/1/2011).

Anis menuturkan, Migrant Care melakukan advokasi kasus Rubingah atas permintaan KBRI Malaysia di Kuala Lumpur. KBRI meminta bantuan Migrant Care untuk memberikan advokasi setelah Rubingah melaporkan pemerkosaan yang dialaminya.

"Waktu itu kami ikut membaca pengaduannya dan keluarganya yang mengatakan diperkosa oleh majikannya yang pejabat tinggi Malaysia ke KBRI yang dibuat di surat resmi dilengkapi foto," ungkap Anis.

Translation available HERE in Google Translate.

I am not blogging about the rape case now since parties concerned have issued OFFICIAL denials but rather, I want us to consider the time frame of various developments.

This whole scenario is MOST puzzling. Here are a few UNANSWERED questions.

1. Why have the authorities been moving in slow motion when responding to such a serious allegation?

A lapse of three years five months is a long time for any one to deny the allegations.

2. Why did the maid take over three years five months to deny the allegations?

3. If indeed the rape did NOT happen, why then did Migrant Care issue the statement that was carried by Teganita?

4. With the denials by both parties, I hope that Migrant Care and Teganita can help shed light on this situation.


Or is it a case of Standby: Lights, Camera, Action?

courtesy of masterworthsmith-unplugged