AS FEARS OVER TEMPLE RIOT SUBSIDE, SERIOUS QUESTIONS FOR MUHYIDDIN – & ZAHID’S PAST SUPPORT FOR MALAY GANGSTER GROUP TIGA LINE: CAN LAWYERS BE SO STUPID NOT TO KNOW HIRING MALAY THUGS COULD START A RACIAL CLASH – WAS THIS DONE DELIBERATELY BY THE REAL ‘HIDDEN HANDS’ FOR WHOM THE LAWYERS ARE MERE FLUNKEYS

And so it comes to pass that the 50 or so Malay youths who attacked a Hindu temple in Subang Jaya, clashed with devotees, and held parang to the necks of a priest and other temple officials were men hired by (unnamed) lawyers working for the developer One City Sdn Bhd, according to Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

They must have been terribly dumb lawyers to think that they could get away with something like this, which sparked off a riot and has threatened to become a highly charged racial issue, even when the government and the police steadfastly maintained that it has nothing to with race.

“Those linked to the developer have not followed legal processes to take over the temple land as planned, in accordance with the law.

“Police investigations found that the lawyers of the developer had hired a group of Malay men to barge into the temple and take control of it before developers and police can arrive (to facilitate the land transfer) on the morning of Nov 26,” Muhyiddin said.

According to him, RM150,000 was handed to the leader of the gang and each of the intruders were paid between RM150 and RM300 for carrying out the attack. This comes out to a total maximum of RM15,000, implying that the leader pocketed the remaining RM135,000.

These gangsters have ratcheted up the racial tension of the country, and needlessly caused a riot which nearly killed a fireman. Who are behind these gangsters? Just the lawyers, two of whom were reported to have been arrested? Or does it involve the developers who they have acted for?

Or more ominously, have they acted on behalf of someone else to hire thugs to deliberately increase racial tensions, for surely they must have known that is what would happen if 50 Malays were to barge into a Hindu temple and try to evict its officials and devotees?

Previous incidents

This is not the first time that thugs and goons have been used to increase racial tensions and do the bidding of their political masters. According to an article in Malaysiakini dated May 19, 2007, part of a special report on the racial riots of May 13, 1969, Malay gangsters were used as frontline attackers during the riots.

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More recently, Muhyiddin’s immediate predecessor Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (photo) – yes the one who said that Malays would run amok if the government signed Icerd (the International Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination) – expressed his support for Malay gangster group Tiga Line.

As I explained in this article in October 2013, Zahid not only defended Tiga Line, a Malay gang outlawed by the police, but also included himself and others as part of the gang. He further condoned their actions and asked them to carry on. So, is he a gangster?

Also, Zahid openly and strongly defended extrajudicial killings by the police, defending as a right police opening fire on those they felt were criminals. This, under the law, is, without doubt, an instigation to murder, for the law provides for a warning to be given before opening fire.

He further made extremely racist remarks about who perpetrated crime, who were the masterminds and who were the victims without providing hard evidence. This needlessly provoked racial tensions, an offence under the Sedition Act 1948.

Zahid’s open defence of Tiga Line when he was home minister raises the question of how much Umno is involved in using gangsters to further its own position and standing within the Malay community, and whether many demonstrations said to be reflecting Malay sentiment were actually attended by paid goons.

This would apply as well to the upcoming Dec 8 demonstration against Icerd’s ratification that Zahid, Umno and PAS support.

In the past, under the previous government, police action against these gangsters was muted, at best. Much of their mischief, such as bursting into forums and meetings organised by others, went largely unpunished by the police.

Taking allegations seriously

In the latest temple incident, allegations of police inaction and delay were made. These are charges that the police should take seriously and rebut convincingly. Otherwise, they should give a proper explanation over their seeming delay and take action against people in the force who were responsible for this.

Also, the long-talked-about Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission, better known as IPCMC, should be set up as soon as possible to make the police more accountable to the public at large. Deaths in lock-up, torture and mistreatment have been too many to ignore.

A matter of great regret is the brutal attack of a firefighter at the scene of the recent rioting. But instead of holding the entire community responsible, the police should track down those responsible and make sure they bear the full brunt of the law. And they should also do the same for those who started this entire fracas in the first place.

Indeed, this is what is required of the police – to investigate responsibly, properly, and efficiently without favour to any one party, for the constitution guarantees equal rights to all under the law, no matter from which community or background he or she comes from.

And it is time the police took unrelenting action against gangsterism and their increasing pervasiveness and influence in all areas, including the police, politics, people and businesses. Gone are the days when gangsters should get official sanction from the government – and a home minister at that.

If all this is done and the police become truly impartial and fair in their investigations, much of the racial problems in the country can be ameliorated. I truly believe this is what most Malaysians of all communities want, not a corrupt bunch of people at the top who manipulate race and religion and use fear to stay undeservingly in power or to regain it.

And I hope Muhyiddin, under whose Home Ministry the police force comes, has now become Malaysian first, instead of Malay first and then Malaysian, as he so notoriously proclaimed before when he was on the opposite side as deputy prime minister and challenged by Lim Kit Siang to state his stand in 2010.

No one is against special privileges for bumiputeras and Malays – as long as that is necessary for social justice. But the discriminatory treatment of communities under the law, through improper enforcement and other devious means that deny them their basic human rights, is simply indefensible.

P GUNASEGARAM

MKINI