What has become of policing and justice in Malaysia?

Where are the defenders of Islam and the protectors of the Malays when you need them?

COMMENT

by Mariam Mokhtar

G Thiyaggurudee, who was allegedly detained at an Islamic missionary centre by two of his teachers and members of the Negeri Sembilan Religious Affairs Department, tried to commit suicide to end his misery.

The 14-year-old’s father, S Ganesan, lodged a police report against his son’s alleged tormentors, but in a curious twist, according to a news report, Negeri Sembilan police chief Jaafar Mohd Yusof said his men would neither conduct enquiries nor open an investigation because of the complexity of the case. He said that numerous allegations and counter-allegations, made by one party against another, had “complicated” matters.

Since when does the Royal Malaysian Police Force select which cases to investigate? Is cherry picking the norm? Are we paying taxes for nothing? So what does the police force do? Do the police realise that they have lost the rakyat’s trust?

Khalid Abu Bakar, the IGP, proudly announced that he has 126,000 policemen policing social media sites. Is police manpower tied up in reading our Facebook entries, Twitter posts and blogs? Is crime on the increase because we lack policemen on the beat?

DCP Jaafar said, “This is a matter between the Social Welfare Department, the Negeri Sembilan Islamic Affairs Department and the family.”

This response is unacceptable and unfair to the dedicated men and women who have joined the force. Jaafar has let down the policemen who want to fight crime and make the nation safe. His attitude will only reduce police morale and lower our confidence in the police and social services.

A boy has been so traumatised after his alleged kidnapping that he wanted to take his own life. The police inaction shows that perhaps they disbelieve him.

Jaafar is adopting the same nonchalant attitude of the IGP, who refused to arrest the Muslim father who allegedly kidnapped his child from his Hindu mother, who had the right of custody granted by a court. In that particular religious custody battle, Khalid claimed that the police were caught in the middle of a court tussle and Khalid was confused.

Thiyaggurudee’s MyKad shows him to be a Muslim. Ganesan, a Hindu, has made several efforts to change his son’s religious status, but the syariah court has advised him to wait till the boy is 19.

Jaafar said the police didn’t act because there were no documents to support the teenager’s current religious status.

He said, “Without any documents, we can’t take any action. We can only ensure that there are no fights between the two sides.”

Ganesan alleged that there had been an attempt to remove his son from Seremban’s Tuanku Jaafar Hospital, where he was warded after his suicide attempt. He said that the police, the Social Welfare Department and the Islamic Affairs Department had tried to whisk the teenager away. In that incident, the trauma of reliving his earlier ordeal made him hysterical, and he tried to hit a doctor and jump from the roof of the hospital. The ward was in chaos for about one hour.

Jaafar’s version of events differed slightly. He said there had been an attempt to remove the teenager and the authorities left after Thiyaggurudee stated his reluctance to accompany them.

Fearing for his son’s safety, Ganesan has smuggled his son out of the Seremban hospital and placed him in a private medical facility, where the treatment to remove the remaining traces of paraquat from his system will continue.

We should be alarmed. The nation is crippled by a two tiered legal structure, where civil and syariah courts battle it out at the expense of the rakyat. Now, we discover that law enforcement is also two tiered. No country can exist in harmony when there are two standards of policing and justice.

Some people in authority are abusing their positions and power. They are also damaging the reputation of Islam. Will the defenders of Islam and the protectors of the Malays speak out against these irresponsible people?

Mariam Mokhtar is an FMT columnist.