The School Bully

There were two articles I read in "Malaysia Today". One was the article about reporters being queried by the police, over statements made by the Penang Chief Minister about the ill effects of the NEP, and the other was the letter from Param Cumaraswamy to the Editor of "Malaysia Today". After reading them, I was both baffled and disturbed.

I am baffled because I have always thought (correct me, if I am wrong) that the police are independent and impartial. In the case quoted by Param, there were people who made police reports calling for Dr. Mahathir’s investigation, basing on evidence (sworn testimony that Dr. Mahathir interfered with ACA investigation) given in court, at the Anwar trial. To date, we have heard nothing about any such investigation. No reasons for the inaction and silence were offered to the public (I suppose they are not obliged to, but considering the high profile of the case, I thought they should act otherwise). They certainly acted different in the case of the Chief Minister of Penang. The reporters who covered his speech were hauled up for statements, apparently attempting to build a case against the Chief Minister. Now, there is talk of interrogating the Chief Minister himself! Is this how it works? ISA for one, OSA for the other!

When I read about stuff like that, somehow in my mind, memories of more police misgivings, some through personal experiences, comes back and I begin to wonder if they know their job! It disturbs me that there were/are so many of these high profile cases that have gone unsolved or vanished! It also disturbs me when I begin to see a pattern in their actions. Clearly, double standards are the order of the day. Kris waving is condoned, Bersih/Hindraf rallies greeted with tear gas, water cannons and police brutality, UMNO led protest found them efficiently directing traffic and keeping order.

So I question their allegiance, is it to King and Country? When one starts questioning, it is inevitable that one begins thinking. After some serious thought, and this really disturbs me, I came to the conclusion that their allegiance is only to UMNO.

I allowed my imagination to go wild a bit and boy, it scared the daylights out of me. Imagine, you call this country home, a country administered by a lame duck PM, with an equally lame government, advised by some delinquents, fresh from their milk bottle, a questionable judiciary, an election commission that reports to the PM and a police force that is at best, mediocre. I think we are living very dangerously!

So except for the uniform, nothing has changed. It brings back memories of school days. You know, you come back to school from holidays. You find the same headmaster, some old faces missing, quite a bit of new senior teaching staff, and things looked fresh and promising. Then came the giant disappointment, the school bully is still there!