Rudyard Kipling"
āWhen you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldierā
General Douglas MacArthur"
āWe are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.ā
āIt is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.ā āOld soldiers never die; they just fade away.
āThe soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.ā
āMay God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .ā āThe object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
āNobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
āIt is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
COMMENT The culture of the Malaysian police has caused too many innocent people grievous hurt. This
hurt ranges from failing to protect us from petty crimes and failing to
deliver justice for crimes committed against us, all the way to illegal
assaults and deaths in custody. Many of us have been direct
victims, but almost all of us are at most one degree of separation from
someone who has suffered because the police are not doing their job
right. This certainly does not apply to all Malaysian police,
but it applies to enough to raise serious questions as to what the heck
is going on with our police leadership. On Sunday night, a small
candlelight vigil was held at Bukit Aman to focus on the death of K
Murugan. Only 20 or so came, but whether this number grows this week,
will be up to you.
Murugan had been an aide to K Vasantha Kumar,
who contested the parliamentary seat of Tapah representing PKR against
MICās M Saravanan. Saravanan won, and is now deputy minister in Khairy
Jamaluddinās Youth and Sports Ministry.
The
information below was gathered from news sources and conversations I
had with the family of the deceased, the lawyer representing them, M
Visvanathan (left), and Vasantha Kumar during the candlelight vigil.
On
the night of May 1, Murugan organised a ceramah at Taman Sri Bidor,
which was located within a MIC stronghold but nonetheless attracted more
than 500 people.
Murugan did this despite having received death
threats and demands that he withdraws his support for Vasantha Kumar.
It does not take an expert criminologist to determine whose supporters
had the most motive to make those threats. Demonstrating great
courage in the face of vicious gangsters, Murugan did not back down, but
continued to bravely live out his convictions. On the very night of that ceramah, Murugan got a call, rode off on his motorcycle and was not seen again. His
body was found days later. His face had been smashed, while his body
was slashed and tied with barbed wire and 52kg of scrap metal before
being dumped into a pond near Batu Gajah.
Blatantly one-sided investigations
It
seems that such horrifying violence could have only been inflicted by
men who did not believe they would suffer any consequences for the
murder. It is almost equally horrifying to see that they may have been
right. As if the tragedy of such a violent death was not enough,
Muruganās family and associates have since been subject to more
suffering at the hands of the police.
Some
18 people were identified to āassist with investigationsā. Not a single
one of these were BN supporters or people aligned to Saravanan.
This
is an outrageous injustice in itself. After all, who was it that made
the threats against Muruganās life? Who had the most to gain by
āremovingā people like Murugan (right)? How is it that
not a single person from the group of people who would make the most
obvious suspects is even investigated or questioned?
Instead, the
18 people identified were all friends and associates of Murugan, or
members of the public. The manner in which ordinary people have been
investigated in this case is shocking.
A relative of Murugan
recounted how people who had come to Muruganās motherās house to pay
their respects and offer condolences were spied upon and then accosted
by police. These people were sharply questioned about the case,
and some reported having been slapped by the police. Soon, no one dared
to come to see Muruganās mother, isolating her in the midst of her
heartbreaking trauma. It would be stupid enough for a criminal
to visit his victimās mother; the only thing more stupid than that is
for a police personnel to assume that a criminal would do such a thing.
Of
the 18 identified, 12 have been arrested. Reports have emerged of their
abuse while in custody, with two allegedly being subject to both
beatings and electrical shocks. Apparently, in the Royal Malaysian
Police Force, (PDRM), this is called āinvestigationā.
The
Perak deputy police chief, A Paramasivam, openly identified one S
Marimuthu in the media as a suspect in the case, due to the latter
having a ācriminal recordā.
Marimuthu was a fellow supporter of Vasantha Kumar (left).
Not only is it extremely unlikely that a colleague of Murugan had any
reason to murder him, it turns out that Marimuthu has absolutely no
criminal record whatsoever. It appears that the police have begun
creating false information out of thin air and expect to successfully
force it down our throats.
Furthermore, why did Paramasivam have
to defame Marimuthu in the media? A simple phone call or polite
interview would have cleared up the matter of the criminal record. When
Marimuthu decided to come forward and make a police report regarding
the defamation proffered by the police, he was unceremoniously arrested.
Thus is the fate of honest citizens, while the police inspector
involved in the murder of N Dhamendran is supposedly āstill at largeā.
Many questions, few answers
There
are a great number of accusations flying around regarding Saravanan's
involvement in this entire affair. Perhaps it is time this deputy
minister stood up and provided his version of the events, especially if
he is in fact innocent. The relative I spoke to kept using the
word āunfairā. How can the police only investigate one side? Do they
have any real evidence at all, or any cause to detain the people the way
they did? In the unlikely event that they did, was there any call for
physical abuse and electrical shock torture?
Are the police
aware of how blatantly they appear to be working hand in glove with
violent gangsters? Are these gangsters in league with BN politicians? Is
it getting harder to tell the difference between the three? The
various implications made in this article are serious, but can we be
blamed, given the shocking way this āinvestigationā seems utterly devoid
of an objective pursuit of justice?
Multiple
layers of harm ripple out like waves from this case. The police have
failed to clamp down on brutal gangsterism; they have failed to
investigate the people most likely connected to the case; they have
arrested, intimidated and tortured innocents.
With every wave, the victims and their families suffer more and more.
Those
arrested were remanded for two weeks, and some lost their jobs, forever
suffering an undeserved tarnished reputation. We can only imagine the
trauma and fear Marimuthuās (left) wife and two children are now undergoing while he faces uncertainty in the hands of a violent police force.
Yet,
maybe they are better off than Muruganās mother, wife and child, who
cannot even hope for his safe return now. Their only hope is justice,
and it seems at times a very thin hope at that. The three of
them had lived together in Bidor, so who will take care of them now?
Muruganās mother has been down with a fever since his death, but she
still made the two-hour trip down to join the candlelight vigil because
the family felt an obligation to do so. Afterwards, her other son drove
her to Bidor and came back the same night to go to work the next
morning.
Will we let these families feel as if they stand alone?
If
your answer is no, and if you want to show and provide support, join us
at the next vigil at Bukit Aman, 8.30pm this Wednesday night. NATHANIEL
TAN hopes to always follow the example of K Selvach Santhiran, one of
the only witnesses to ever dare testify in a death in custody case. He
tweets @NatAsasi
The
information below was gathered from news sources and conversations I
had with the family of the deceased, the lawyer representing them, M
Visvanathan (left), and Vasantha Kumar during the candlelight vigil. 
Some
18 people were identified to āassist with investigationsā. Not a single
one of these were BN supporters or people aligned to Saravanan. 
The
Perak deputy police chief, A Paramasivam, openly identified one S
Marimuthu in the media as a suspect in the case, due to the latter
having a ācriminal recordā.
Multiple
layers of harm ripple out like waves from this case. The police have
failed to clamp down on brutal gangsterism; they have failed to
investigate the people most likely connected to the case; they have
arrested, intimidated and tortured innocents. 
