When the government turns on its people (part 1)

The Police standard response has always been that those who were shot dead were criminals. That seemed plausible when Indians were killed because even MIC has been lamenting that Indians need to turn to crime to earn a living. So you can blame Sami Vellu for this. He was the one who gave the Police the justification to shoot dead his fellow Indians.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

It is a historical fact that the people rise up in revolt to remove despotic governments and monarchies and then the very revolution they supported turns on them. Whether we go back hundreds of years or look at the most recent of revolutions the stories are all the same. The vehicle to remove the monster ends up becoming an even bigger monster.

And that is why I am not prepared to compromise on certain principles. Some tell me that these principles must be put aside for the meantime so that we can focus on removing Barisan Nasional from power.

I have said this before. I am not prepared to do that. I first want to know what type of government we are going to get in replacement to the government we are going to remove. Is it going to be a better government or just the same of the old thing? Is it just going to be old wine in a new bottle?

I think this is a reasonable question and justified anxiety. I have not forgotten that many now in the opposition were once part of the system that has reduced Malaysia to what it is today. They were once the problem rather than the solution to the problem.

I have been monitoring what has been happening in Kelantan the last 21 years since 1990. We may have had Nik Aziz Nik Mat as the Menteri Besar since 1990. But many of those under him are the same old corrupt people.

The problem with this is the body does not move in the same direction as the head. In fact, those in government try to sabotage the very government that they work for.

Was this not also true in Perak? Is this not also true in Selangor, Penang and Kedah? Are not the new political masters having a hard time trying to keep their officers in check and getting them to toe the line?

This is what I fear.

Let’s look at the MACC. It used to be called the ACA. It used to be under Hussein Onn, then Dr Mahathir Mohamad, then Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and now Najib Tun Razak. A change of name and four Prime Ministers later and it is still the same old shit. There is no change.

And what about the Royal Malaysian Police or PDRM? How many IGPs have we had since Tun Haniff Omar? Have we seen things get better of have they in fact become worse?

Honestly, will we see a better MACC or PDRM even if Anwar Ibrahim becomes the new Pakatan Rakyat Prime Minister? Was not Anwar in Umno and the government for 17 years and a good portion of that time as Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister?

I am worried that Anwar will never be able to control or change the MACC or PDRM. It may be the other way around. MACC or PDRM may instead control Anwar like what happened for 17 years when he was in government and was the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Let us look at the MACC and PDRM today, 53 years after we kicked out the ‘tyrant’ British Colonialists and gained independence on 31 August 1957. Was the British government so much worse than the Umno government of today?

The MACC and PDRM are in competition to kill innocent Malaysians without fear of retribution. Human Rights group, Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram), expressed outrage that not a single Police officer has been held accountable for the deaths of 88 people killed in police shootings last year alone.

Suaram also accused the Police of targeting a specific ethnic group, the Indians (so some of what HINDRAF says is actually very true).

The Police standard response has always been that those who were shot dead were criminals. That seemed plausible when Indians were killed because even MIC has been lamenting that Indians need to turn to crime to earn a living.

So you can blame Sami Vellu for this. He was the one who gave the Police the justification to shoot dead his fellow Indians.

Then the picture changed.

This ‘standard answer’ no longer sounds credible when 14-year-old Form III student Aminulrasyid Amzah was shot dead some 100 metres from his Shah Alam house at 2.00am on 26 April 2010 after coming back from watching the football match between Chelsea and Stokes at the neighbourhood Mamak stall with his friends.

The Police then subjected his 15-year-old friend, Azamuddin, to three grilling interrogations to force him to change his story.

Aminulrasyid’s mother too shocked by grief could only show his picture

The same thing happened in the recent Glenmarie killings of three Malay youths.

Muhammad Hanafi Omar, 22, Muhammad Shamil Hafiz Shapiei, 15, and Hairul Nizam Tuah, 20, were gunned down by the police.

The Police said that the shooting happened in a high-speed car chase in the wee hours of November 13. Pathologist reports, however, suggest they were shot at close range while they were in a kneeling position.

Lawyers for Liberty headed by N. Surendran are demanding an open and transparent investigation and they have alleged that it is cold-blooded murder a la execution.

Khairul Nizam’s sister, Norhaliza Tuah, 27, with LFL Lawyer N. Surendran: My brother’s death did not make sense. He is not a criminal. My family is in a state of shock how this could happen. When we saw his body, there were bruises on his face. Was he killed before they killed him? The Police must answer.

The MACC’s record is just as ‘impressive’.

Since Teoh Beng Hock is Chinese, thus the MACC wanted Malaysians to believe that it was plausible for a Chinese to commit suicide and that Beng Hock jumped out of the 13th floor of the MACC Selangor Office.

That theory became difficult to sell when Ahmad Sarbaini was also killed in similar fashion seeing that he is Malay-Muslim and not kafir-Chinese.

Ahmad Sarbaini ‘s dead’s body two hours after he arrived at the KL MACC Office

Even as Ahmad Sarbaini’s family was burying his dead body, the MACC already started a smear campaign that he was the mastermind of the 3B case (RM3 billion) and that he was a very corrupt Customs officer with billions in his bank account.

His family and the Customs Union have objected to the MACC’s smear campaign. That was why Malaysia Today ran the 4-part series on Ahmad Sarbaini’s death to reveal that the MACC would not hesitate to smear the good names of the dead if necessary to support their suicide theory.

Ahmad Sarbaini’s grieving family at his burial

They could do all this because that is how the system works in Malaysia. The MACC and PDRM will help AG Gani Patail to fix the people who pose dangers to the 'system' and he will clear the MACC and PDRM of any wrongdoing.

That was why on 31 May 2011, the MACC Operations Evaluation Panel (OEP) Chairman, Tan Sri Dr Hadenan Abdul Jalil, seized the opportunity to clear AG Gani Patail unconditionally at the same time that the MACC conditionally cleared Tan Sri Robert Phang.

Part 2 to be continued tomorrow.