November 29, 2005

  • The sorry saga
    continues and I am trying to make sense of the verbiage we have been assaulted
    with daily. I am not too confident about the outcome of the so-called
    investigations since our track record of horrible lapses has little to assure us
    otherwise. But I would love to be proven wrong. Too many sources to link, so
    you’ll just have to take my word for it here:

    • Prime Minister Pak Lah says there will be no cover-ups and an independent body will be set up immediately to investigate
      the recent case of a woman, believed to be a Chinese national, ordered to
      perform ear squats in the nude in a police lockup.
    • Home Affairs Minister Datuk Azmi Khalid says, “The
      publication of such stories is not fair because it is as if we are
      profiling Chinese citizens who come to       Malaysia.  The risk is that the number of tourists from China will fall and this will affect our tourism industry.”
    • Policewoman in the video clip has been identified and has been
      said to be merely following standard procedure.
    • Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Musa Hassan said
      that whoever took the video clip would be charged under the Penal Code
      with outraging the modesty of the woman or intruding.
    • Deputy Internal Security Minister Noh Omar defended the police,
      saying their action was in accordance with the rules and regulations: "I
      dare say everything was done following the rules,"       and challenged
      lawyers to sue the government or police if they did not agree.
    • Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak was quoted by The Star
      as saying that "strip-searching was not part of the procedures to
      examine those held under police custody."
    • Deputy Inspector-General of Police Musa
      Hassan       was quoted as saying that
      "it is the perpetrator behind the video clip whom we are after and
      not the policewoman, who was carrying out a routine check".
    • Opposition party MP Teresa Kok who was landed the hot potato and went public gave a statement to the police
      and in her blog, writes ominously, “I must be careful...”

    We are all careful,
    Teresa, very, very careful - we've learnt our lesson well - and hence
    our very polite but measured response. Contrast our rather docile
    approach to the women of Kerala
    on hearing  the Supreme Court decree that women can be taken into
    police custody at night without the presence of women police constables.

dbctan

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