OK-lah, we must give credit where credit is due

Well, the Polis Di-Raja Malaysia certainly have been having a bad rap from the public this last one week over the shooting of 14-year old Aminulsayid Amzah. Now there was an incident the previous day which took place in a cyber-cafe in Jalan Genting. A 17-old (read teenager) with six of his friends charged into the outlet at about 3.00 am (read morning) and held up 12 patrons little did they realise that two plainsclothes policemen were in the washroom. This was reported in The Sun paper of May 6. The robbers were armed with parang, samurai swords, saws and an axe.

On hearing the commotion, the two policemen came out from the loo and this is what they did:

1. They identified themselves.

2. They ordered the robbers to surrender.

3. One of the robbers lunged at them with a saw. It was only then that one of the detectives drew his pistol from his holster and opened fire.

4. Instead of shoot to kill, he wounded the robber in both legs. On seeing this, the robber's accomplices fled the scene.

Any good reason why such SOP was not applied in Aminulrasyid's case??? To the two detectives, A JOB WELL DONE!!!!

Just fancy that ...

Even Selangor police chief Khalid Abu Bakar is not immune to crime, who found today that his official car was stolen.

According to the Star, the top cop who is currently overseas has confirmed that his car was missing.

Khalid's driver had driven the car to a restaurant in Section 9, Shah Alam, this morning to have his breakfast.

The Perdana V6, which was parked near the restaurant, was found missing half-an-hour later at about 8.30am.

The driver had since lodged a police report. Khalid said that his driver was questioned by the police over the matter.

'Greatest disgrace'

In an immediate reaction, Selangor assembly speaker and DAP Sungai Pinang state representative Teng Chang Khim has described the theft as “the greatest disgrace of the year”.

“When the CPO's (chief police officer) official car can be stolen, whose cars are safe in Selangor?” he asked in his tweet.

“After the theft of the CPO's official car, can the CPO now confidently say that crimes in Selangor are under control?”

Quip for the day

Due to a power cut, only one paramedic responded to the call. The house was very dark so the paramedic asked Kathleen, a three-year old girl to hold a flashlight high over her mommy so he could see while he helped deliver the baby. Very diligently, Kathleen did as she was asked. Heidi pushed and pushed and after a little while, Connor was born. "The paramedic lifted him by his little feet and spanked him on his bottom. Connor began to cry. The paramedic then thanked Kathleen for her help and asked the wide-eyed three-year-old what she thought about what she had just witnessed. "The girl quickly responded, 'He shouldn't have crawled in there in the first place... smack his ass again.

More on the Aminulrasyid shooting - Art Harun

I would have written about this earlier had I not been away.

I read with total disbelief about the totally unprovoked, unnecessary and unprofessional killing of a 14-year-old boy by the police in the early hours of the April 26, 2010.

The police as usual, with its standard apathetic “statement” to the media, said:

“Seorang yang disyaki penyamun ditembak polis awal pagi di Seksyen 11 Shah Alam… sebilah parang dijumpai di dalam kereta disyaki digunakan sebagai senjata untuk menyamun… suspek kedua berjaya melepaskan diri..”

(A person who was a suspected robber was shot by the police early this morning at section 11 Shah Alam .... a machete was found in the car which was suspected as the weapon used in robbery .... a second suspect successfully ran away ...” ) — translated by me.

YB Khalid Samad has a clear account of the incident on his blog.

I am aghast at the statement issued by the police. It is insensitive, irresponsible and in fact laced with so much bad intention.

On what ground and evidence did the police conclude that the 14-year-old victim was a “suspected robber”?

Read the account at YB Khalid Samad’s blog. Read also the police report lodged by the “second suspect” who had apparently successfully ran away.

The police were clearly chasing the car driven by the victim for some traffic offences. That was all. Was there a necessity to shoot the driver? Can’t 2 patrol cars overtake a Proton Iswara and stop them? What kind of drivers were the police, so much so that they have to resort to shooting the driver to stop a Proton Iswara driven by a 14-year-old?

And to repeat my first question, what made the police to conclude that the 14-year-old boy was a suspected robber and his passenger friend a “second suspect”?

The “parang” story was obviously an attempt at justifying the killing. So, if someone carried a parang, he could justifiably be shot to death is it? Even on that assumption, how did the police see the parang in the boot before shooting the 14-year-old boy?

As could be seen from the “second suspect’s” police report, he had wanted to surrender. But he was kicked and stepped on by the policemen. He then ran away.

This kicking culture among the police is well known. That was what happened to Norizan Salleh, the woman who was shot not once, twice or thrice, but a good FIVE times by the police but fortunately lives on to tell the tale. She was also stepped on and kicked after being shot five times.

In the incident here, was there a necessity to kick the boy? Can’t the police see that he was just a terrified boy? The boy was coming out from the driver’s side which means he had to move the body of his 14-year-old friend who was then dead. Wasn’t it a priority to check what had happened to the victim who was then lying dead rather than to kick the other boy?

And when he ran away, was he chased? Was there any attempt to arrest the “second suspect”? Or are the police trying to imply that 3-4 adult policemen could not chase and apprehend the “second suspect”, who also happened to be a boy?

They drove a patrol car and could not overtake an Iswara. Then they also could not chase and apprehend a boy?

Why didn’t they just shoot the “second suspect” then? After all he, like the victim, was a suspected robber, no? Why the double standard? Just shoot him, like what they did to the victim. After all, there was a “parang” in the car. And the “parang” was suspected to have been used in robberies.

The response from the police later left me numbed. The 4 officers had now been assigned to desk duties.

Why were they not suspended? The case has been classified as a murder case, according to the police themselves. And that was done to show how serious the police are about the case.

So, now, we have 4 police officers, who are being investigated in a murder case, who are still carrying weapons and a police identity card. What if they use their position as such to intimidate the “second suspect”, who is just a boy? How?

Sometimes I wonder where some of us have retired their brains to. Junksville?

The response from the Home Minister is almost standard. We are sorry. We will investigate this fully and transparently. We will have a special task force to do this. And rest assured the task force will be independent and there will be no interference. Blah, blah, blah... (Kesha’s song is running in my head now!).

The thing is this. Let us all not forget that this has happened far too many times for our comfort. Kugan has died. After Kugan, there was another case of death in the cell. Norizan was shot. Now Aminulrasyid. Every now and then, we read or hear news about the police opening fire and “killing 6 suspected robbers/gang members/whatever”.

I read somewhere yesterday that the Indonesian government is questioning the killing of three of their citizens recently.

We can have this and that task farce, eh, sorry, task force. We can have a 40,000 word report about this and that incidents. Nothing is going to change the police and their propensity for pulling the trigger.

The rules and regulations pertaining to the discharge of fire arms by the police must be tighten and made public.

And there must be tangible effort to restore public confidence in our police force.

The establishment of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), as recommended by a Royal Commission, would be a good starting point.

I wonder why the Home Minister and the government so reluctant in establishing the IPCMC. After all, it wasn’t some Tom, Dick or Kamal who had suggested its establishment. It was recommended by a Royal Commission established by the government itself!

I hope Aminurasyid did not die in vain.

Al-Fatihah to him. And my deepest condolence to his parents, family members and friends. — artharun.blogspot.com

PDRM, wither art thou

I came across this write up by blogger KayTee and thought it apt to reproduce it here for the interests of my readers especially when our mata-mata is in the spotlight again fro the wrong reasons.

There was a time when the Royal Malayan/Malaysian Police was trusted, respected and relied upon by Malayans/Malaysians.

They walked around armed only with truncheons. Malayans of my uncles’ vintage laughed at the police of neighbouring countries like the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand because those law enforcers wore pistols - they were sneered at as 'cowboys', not like our officers. In Malaya then, only those who were directly operating against the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) had cause to carry armed weapons.

Even the Special Branch was regarded with pride as the unit that would always obtain the required intelligence, whether in domestic or overseas operations.

Two SB police inspectors in the late 70’s infiltrated the MCP, living with the insurgents for years. With the intelligence they provided and the internal dissent and split up they were reputed to have fomented in the MCP, it could be said they were responsible for the eventual breakup of the MCP and its debilitation. Such was the standard of police officers. The two were Paul Kiong and Sia Boon Chee, who were both awarded Malaysia’s highest award for valour, the Seri Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa, by the Agong.

Today the Police is not even a pale imitation of its former glorious self. It is sub-zero in the eyes of the average Malaysians.

Armed to the teeth, they terrorise candlelight vigils instead of communists, while crime rates soared through the ceiling. Their SB focused on innocent Malaysians or Pakatan politicians and supporters while Israeli spies and illegal migrants slipped through our borders to live among us, committing political espionage, political voting and non-political crimes.

They are quick to arrest opposition politicians and human rights activists like Irene Fernandez, just because she published a report on the living conditions of the migrant workers entitled "Abuse, Torture and Dehumanised Conditions of Migrant Workers in Detention Centres" while criminals and Mat Rempits roam the streets.

They have become more fond of photographing naked women in police lockups than the Israeli spies and criminals in our midst, both nasties alleged to have very intimate association with top police officers.

And what have the police done to solve the murders of Nurin Jazlin Jazimin and Preeshena Varshiny?

Now they have shot dead a 14 year old kid, Aminulrasyid Amzah for speeding away in his sister’s car.

And just what did the IGP threaten to do when shocked Malaysians call for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into such an abhorrent consequence of police shooting?

Precisely what his predecessory had threatened when AAB wanted to establish the IPCMC, and who was allowed to get away with his insubordination and public mutiny of threats to AAB's government, and bizarrely was even given a hero's farewell when he retired, with a Tan Sri title. A f* amazing example of what a defiant and mutinous IGP could achieve against the effeminate ineffectiveness of our police ministers.

Please tell me, how have such a once glorious force, trusted and respected by Malayans/Malaysians become a distrusted, despised and dreaded body, reviled by the average citizen? Indeed, how are the once mighty fallen!

Are all police trigger happy these days?

The following video depict the shooting of Oscar Grant III in Oakland, California last year. Questions raised by family members and lawyers for the victim are the same questions asked in the Aminulrasyid's shotting by our police.

Police even laughed when they shot at protesters. Ring a bell?

The UEC dilemma for Malaysia

From time to time, the issues of independent Chinese school education and Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) will trigger heated debates. It proves that there are still great differences between the Chinese community and the BN government on the issue.

After some troubles, UEC holders are finally allowed to apply for the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loans. Some are gratified, some are taunting while some are trying to claim the credit. But some are still observing and waiting for the full recognition for the UEC.

The independent Chinese school education system and UEC is a problem left over by history. It must be resolved one day, the sooner the better. But the ball is now in the government's court and thus, the Chinese community needs not to be in haste. The world will, after all, keep moving forward without the recognition and independent Chinese schools will also keep running.

I have no independent Chinese school background but I sent all the three of my children to study in an independent Chinese school. To be honest, I simply do not care about whether the government will recognise the UEC as I am confident that as long as my children are able to pass the Unified Examination, it will not going to be a problem for their future.

There are two real-life examples.

An old classmate called me last year to share his joy.

His son, who went to the United Kingdom to study medicine after graduated from Foon Yew High School, was immediately recruited by Singapore's University Hospital, mainly because his son possessed a Chinese school background.

"More and more, I'm sure that it was a right decision to send my son to study in Foon Yew High School. Independent Chinese school education is definitely an advantage, instead of a burden," he said.

Daughter of Cheng Chean Chiang, a Chinese organisation chairman in Johor Bahru, also graduated from Foon Yew High School. She then went to the United States to study a financial related course. She graduated two years ago and she was able to stand out amid thousands of applicants and recruited by a financial company in the United States amidst the second mortgage crisis, when the financial industry was suffering lay-offs and pay cuts. Cheng told us the reason: "The company was looking for a talent who can communicate with Chinese people. My daughter's 12-year Chinese education background was her biggest advantage."

Times change and there are great changes over the past half century. The rise of China has brought Chinese language out of the doldrums and it is now moving towards the world. It used to be a dream for many people 30 years ago.

For decades, we have tired of the intervention of politics in education. How would the government thought that Chinese education, which had been suppressed in the past, has today become an advantage and assets of Malaysia?

It is now the time to recognise the UEC. Never wait until the whole world has recognised it and Malaysia is the only one left!

[Source: MySinChew]