This news was some time ago, I was so angry when I saw such practice still carried out in Malaysia.
The recent release of the video of the mis-treatment of detainees in lockup by Malaysia police has really been a slap in the face to our country, in terms of human-rights issue, and the system of police force in Malaysia.
The video showed a Chinese woman being forced to perform squats, naked, by a police officer. Another slap was felt when in the middle of video, we heard the distanct background prayers from the mosque.
BBC report & video
What made the public angry was the response by the police side. The deputy police chief stated, as if that is a matter of fact, that the practice is standard procedure, particularly as he suggested the real offender was the person who filmed the incident. The police insistence to find out the 'culprit' who filmed the video, showed the attitude to shift blame rather than to examine the dubious practices in their part, which violates the basic human rights.
I am saddened by the attitude to shift blame and deny responsibilities. Such manouveour has been seen again and again in many fields in Malaysia, be it government sector, organization, companies, etc. Instead of taking the bull by its horn to solve problems, there is a culture of blaming others, or "wait-and-see" to let things 'cool' down. In many cases, an exposure of some scandalous common practice does not lead to further investigation to clean out all the culprits, but is resolved by categorizing them as individual cases. An example is bribery and cronysim, which is an issue that we MUST solve soon, because the longer we wait, the more cumulative the problem builds up, and when it DOES fall apart, everything will fall like dominoes.
More saddening is that it has been commented that such abusive practice has been long existing in our society, and people commonly have the perception that this is actually a NORM or a common practice in the police lockup, and actually treat it as a fact to accept such grey area of the human rights in Malaysia. The "tidak apa" ("couldn't bother") attitude among Malaysians are disasterous. By choosing to shy away from the seemingly sensitive/ complicated social issues, we are shying away from our social responsibilities as citizens. When we escape from the problems that need to be tackled, we cannot escape them forever, for they will always fall back to our own children in next generation, in larger magnitude.
Side note:
Similar news in Marine UK.
BBC
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15 comments:
Human rights are always under attack. When people are given power over others, they will abuse it if not checked. Modern technology has given more power to police, but can also backfire, as when videos of their misdeeds become public.
In the US, which has a long Cold War history of teaching dicators how to torture people, we now have the disgusting spectacle of the Vice President lobbying the Senate to allow the government to continue to torture prisoners. The US no longer even pretends to uphold human rights.
The CIA has been exposed for running secret torture chambers in other countries. In California, it was revealed that guards at a state prison were staging "gladiator" style fights between inmates, and in Arizona, there have been films of prisoners being "tased" (electric stun guns) and beaten to death. All very sickening.
Only strict control over the government can prevent such things, and that requires a public that has some political power, stays informed and most importantly cares enough about it to take action.
As you rightly point out, too many people today are too self involved to bother. When the police come for them, it will be too late.
I've come to a point that i do not wish to comment much on some of the government's foolish acts, statements, policies and practices. It's sad but true that the ultimate changes must be made through political means.
Most Malaysian choose to mind their own living, that they won't give a damn about things that doesn't boder them. This gave advantages to policy makers and we can only talk and keep living in our own critics.
I suppose most people who are reading this post now are able to understand the situation, but we are merely the minority of the people who don't. Message not sent. Always.
It's said that every little people around the world doing little things can change the world. For now, i'll just do that. Perhaps i will find more little people along the way!
You are right Low. In our blogging community there are various opinions about some things, but on subjects like this I think we all agree 99%.
Last night I watched a program on TV (wow, a very rare thing for Pandabonium to do!). It was a Canadian documentary about John Lennon and the song "Give Peace A Chance". I thought at first that it was pointless. We've not achieved peace and they killed him just as they did JFK, RFK, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X.
But what if he and the people he inspired had done nothing? Where would we be now? Due to activism, the US war on Vietnam was ended which led to Nixon being removed from office. I think of Ghandi, Nelson Mandella, Mother Theresa. "Little people" who brought about change in the lives of others and in entire countries. Recently in the USA, Cindy Sheehan, who lost a son in Iraq, started a movement almost single-handedly and has brought tremendous pressure to bear to end that war.
It is disheartening to see "evil" triumph. But just because we aren't yet victorious, does not mean we should give up hope. A lot of good has come from the activism of people who care. The fact that evil continues to hold the world in its grasp just means we need more help.
So, yes, maybe we are at times "preaching to the choir" as Christians say, but that is OK. We need to remind each other of these things on occassion, share our discouragement and frustration, and then encourage each other to reach out and help to improve the situation each in our own way. Your volunteer work, Low, Moody teaching kids music, English, and how to become adults in the real world, YD studying to make her contribution to our world, and so on. It all matters very much and makes a difference.
This is not a criticism of your comment. To the contrary, my intent is to encourage you. We all need to keep sharing ideas and reaching out to other people. We don't have to make political speeches, just befriend people and share our hearts and lives.
Those "big, powerful, nasty people" crumble when exposed. Like the Wizard of Oz hiding behind a curtain pulling levers, they are only powerful when we believe that their illusion is reality.
Personally, I hope YD will take this to heart and fly to Washington D.C. with her friends in her building and sing "MEOW" songs in front of the Whitehouse until George Bush surrenders! Haha!
As usual I've gone on and on. Sorry about that. But as they say here in Japan, gambatte, ne! Yes, Low, you will find many of us "little people" along the way.
I wonder, after reading the news report, how much is the truth and how much is media blowing.
If the situation is another race, in another place, in another crime, would the scenerio be different.
I am in no support for violation of human rights but I am aware that they do more nasty things in prison in other parts of the world.
The really sad thing is that there are lots of people who would probably cheer those abusive police officers.
I remember some (white) police officers in the U.S. getting videotaped beating up an unarmed (black) man who was making no effort to resist. The officers involved in the incident got off very lightly, which outraged me but pleased my parents. My mother told me very angrily that people these days had "too many rights", and that the police should have a blank check to "deal appropriately" with people they "know to be the wrong sort".
Recently I've had friends of mine back home say something very similar when police in Portland randomly batoned and pepper sprayed people (including a baby sprayed at point blank range by a laughing officer...caught on video) at a peaceful demonstration outside a Republican fund-raiser. One of my more militant friends told me very angrily that only sensible people deserved rights...and that sensible people wouldn't be demonstrating in the first place since they'd all be supporting Bush.
I guess "human rights" is a very relative term...
When I was writing this, I know that not much can be done to change the landscape of the society and policies. But the frustration over many such issues left muffled over time is just so overwhelming that i need a place to venge it out.
Low is right, no matter how loud we voice our opinions, the message is unsent in many cases. Ultimate change comes from the authority, and in most of the times, the voices of us are just treated as noise.
However, dear Low, we are not alone. There are 'little people' all around feeling the same, and I wonder, if we put our force together, would we make a change?
Change starts with oneself, and all of you here are doing your bit to make a change, in different aspects. We might not be able to change the policies right now, right here; but we don't lose hope of doing something to change the way of society works, which does not seem right.
Changes in the societies start with ideas, opinions, and further transformation into actions and campaigns, finally affecting the 'authority' in making policies. Are we in the position to do that? No. Are the journalists in the positions to do that? Maybe. Are the MP and politicians in the position to do that? Yes, but conditioned that they are dedicated enough to see beyond their political interests and really have a heart to make a change in the government.
Sometimes people said that even people like Gandhi and others did not manage to solve the problems of the world, so why bother? I think such views are wrong. If we depend on 'great' people to solve all of the world problems, we are just escaping our own responsibility. Those great men may not have solved the problems directly by themselves, but they inspire others, and they leave a legacy for the next generation to continue the work. We do our little bits, as panda and Low said, and start the change among ourselves.
Well, these long comments might not have made any impact now, but who knows in future, we can be one of those who make a change? (Well, at least like what panda suggested, I can have a 'meow'-athon until Bush surrender to our meow-mas carol! hehehe...
Thanks for dropping by, Robin, where's batman by the way?
Robin's comments reminded me about the case of murder of a gay person in Laramie, in 1998.
The case created headlines in US regarding the issue of homophobia, and the rights of gay people.
During the proceedings of trial, many critics commented that if the situation is about just a straight murdered, the scenario would be different.
Well, sometimes media do tends to get over-hyped over small matters. But in this Laramie's case, this media attention leads to a great impact in change in legislation about human rights and gay rights. It is not like another simple media stereotypes that hyped over any issues that arise, this one leads to a CHANGE in the society.
Moody, I read about the news of abuse of the black man too last time. This made me think, what is it in the heart of these people that made them venge their anger, or phobia towards other races, onto any innocent people that means no harm to them? and what is it that made so many of us still feel uneasy dealing with people who seem different from us?
Seems like we, human, still have a long way to learn, to learn to live along peacefully, and maturely, with other human fellows. (and also with nature!) Well, do human alwys have a tendency to react negatively against something that seem 'foreign' and unlike us? This is a question for those psycologist, and humanity studies researcher.
yd.. haha, you probably haven't been to my blog when you asked about Batman.:
The sub-title of my blog is:-
"Who needs Batman when there is ROBIN"
What can one say?
The world is finite but human stupidity and cruelty is infinte.
Luckily we've got Robin and who needs Batman anyway? hahaha!
YD, there is a prayer, the origins of which are a mystery and much contested, that I think is useful to comtemplate when you confront such frustrating things. Personally, as you might guess, I leave out the word "god". I think it is a valuable thought no matter what one's philosophical beliefs:
"God, Grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference."
I hope you like as well.
verification word: qahts - a common size that ice cream is sold by in Massachusetts equalling 1/4 of a gallon.
Be careful with those word verification jokes, Pandabonium. One of the ones that you wrote in a different thread got stuck in my word verification display (the same letters kept appearing every time, but not working!), and it jammed it up solid. I did an internet search, and other people have apparently had the same trouble with the same letter combination.
SpoooooooooKY!
I had the same problem yesterday, Moody. I cleared the cache and cookies, logged of and on again tried two different browsers and it still reapeared!
I finally shut everything down for a while and was when I came back again it changed.
Spooky is right.
yiozfbf - tempermental guardian god of verification words
yd, I wanted to post this but thought against it as I feel it's disgusting and embarrassing to say the least.
Low has a point in that one person alone is not able to change the world but Pandabonium's view otherwise makes sense too as evidence has shown that great deeds and changes have been initiated by lone, courageous persons.
MM (Moody Minstrel)'s point about 'human rights' being a relative term is so true.
Robin, you're right that the media has a big part in it being blown out of proportion and it's a good thing to a certain extent. At least now we know there is a problem.
Panadabonium, as to the prayer "God, Grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference.", I'd say 'Amen.'
Thanks happy surfer. We have always had our culture of 'keeping the secrets of our bad within the family' in Asian country. It preserves our dignity and our pride. However, sometimes our preference to keep our image leads to problems unsolved and evolved into a more complex matter. By keeping silent, we do somewhat give silent consent to the matter, to some certain extent.
To the other extreme, the situation I saw here in UK is people are too vocal about everything. This is unbalanced too as it creates an atmosphere such that people just have an opinion to whatever things and like to fight for whatever issue that comes out. There is a revolutionary feel in the air, to fight, protest, complain, and demonstrate. (hehe, at least this is what LSE looks like)
I might sounded too vocal and too ambitious to want a change in a society, but I believe, and hope, such dreams and ambitions keep me going, and keep my conscience to do good in my part. I know I might be too small to influence things. But, well.. who knows?
I saw from your blog posts too that you care about many things that are happening. Well, welcome to the little people group! When we do something to change things within the small circle among ourselves, the snowballing effect may result in a larger scale of change. Let's pray we can at least do something that makes a difference.
Panda, you really know me well. Thanks for the meaningful quote. It made me contemplate a lot about many things. (do stop me when I think too much, hehe)
I would say, let's be a lamp upon ourselves, and changes in the world begin with ourselves.
Yd.. happysurfer has posted more news about this case from the Star.
So to end this chapter...
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