Breakdown of Law and Order
By Nik Nazmi
A lawyer was captured on video fixing the appointment of judges. A little girl was sexually molested and murdered, and the police is planning to take action against the parents for negligence. A plain-clothes policeman went into the middle of a crowd of opposition supporters armed with a gun, and ended up shooting live bullets and nearly killing two members of the crowd.
The government response to the video has been a terrible disaster. The PM and Deputy PM question the credibility of the video. The Minister says that the other man on the line is not the Chief Justice. The Attorney General says that the lawyer was in monologue! Is the Information Minister not doing his job, to coordinate the spin?
Welcome to Malaysia, after 50 years of Independence. Things are falling apart. Law and order have broken down. Our policemen are utilised to monitor the Opposition, while real crime takes place in our midst. The crime index for the first five months of 2007 is over 8% higher than the corresponding period in 2006. The number of rape taking place each day has doubled in the first six months of 2007 compared to 2003. Eight Malaysians are being raped daily. When that happen, blame the parents.
But why is it when kids die in National Service or our brave soldiers die due to poorly-maintained helicopters, the Defence Minister is not tasked for negligence? Speak to the people around you, and every one will have a friend or family member who has recently experienced crime: snatch-thefts, assault, robbery and more frightening still, rape and murder.
In the early days of our independence we were poorer but we could live in relative security in our homes. We didn’t have beautiful boulevards, but the streets were safe for our children. We didn’t have giant shopping malls but we can park safely on the roadside to run our errands. Things were simpler but when things go wrong you know you can go to the court and justice will be served.
Now the rich retreat behind concrete walls and gated communities, leaving the criminals to the masses. But even private security is not an absolute guarantee. After all we all need to commute, to go to work, to stroll around the park. We have huge theme parks, but we need to guard our kids at every moment to ensure their safety. Now we have massive courthouses, but the credibility of our judiciary is in tatters.
Yes, all of us have a role to play. We can’t leave everything to the state, but then again, we wish that the same ruthless efficiency that they use against their political opponents could be used against criminals instead. We wish that the compassion they show to corrupt politicians and public servants could be shown to mourning parents as well. We pray that the concern they show to burnt flags will be shown to injured civilians.
How do we move forward? We must put these people to account. We must not tolerate corruption, be it a RM50 fine taken by a traffic policeman, or millions of ringgit taken by the Chief Justice. We must give the many ordinary, decent policeman who have done a good job day in day out to get the respect they deserve by removing those who fail miserably in carrying out their responsibilities and tarnishing the image of the entire force. We must move the Special Branch officers in charge of political surveillance to fight crime instead, and join their colleagues who risk their lives to ensure our peace and safety.
The ultimate solution lies in political change. We must change the politicians who live in fear of their shadows with those who want to serve the people. We must vote for a government which put country above party and let the judicial system be, allowing our judges to do their job without fear or favour. We must wake our politicians up from the illusion that no matter how rotten the country is, the rakyat will continue to vote for them. We must free our people from fear.
The government used to campaign on a platform of security, stability and competence. Every single day, the country is becoming more chaotic and our public servants are becoming more inept. With the rot we’re in, what do you stand to lose by giving us a chance?
Should we fall short of your expectations, at least this will lead to truly functioning democracy, where incompetent governments – from whichever party that may be – will be voted out. Then, perhaps every politician and public servant will take the rakyat seriously for a change.
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