Rudyard Kipling"
“When 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 soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It 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."
PDRM in a state of unrest by Commander (Rtd) S THAYAPARAN, formerly of the Royal Malaysian Navy
Friday, August 31, 2012
"The police are not here to create disorder; they're here to preserve disorder." - Richard J Daley
COMMENT Bukit
Aman police secretariat (public relations) assistant head Ramli Mohamed
Yoosuf could be right when he claims that the writer of the anonymous letteralleging the possible doctoring of crime statistics is probably not a police officer. However
you don't need to be a police officer to be familiar with the operating
procedures of the PDRM (Royal Malaysian Police). Massaging statistics
and reclassifying crimes is hardly new when it comes to law enforcement
agencies worldwide in justifying their performance, not to mention the
continued use of their methods.
All that is needed is someone
with insider knowledge motivated to impart this knowledge which lends an
air of authenticity to the expose and then if you have something to
hide (which the PDRM most certainly has) you are in a whole world of
hurt. The PDRM's response has been professional, but the rebuttal itself is not the required knock-out that the PDRM desperately needs at the moment. The war of words between the opposition and the Home Ministry over the
discrepancies of crime statistics and the siege mentality of an urban
voting public plagued by crime that seems to permeate every level of
society has effectively made the PDRM the least credible government
agency in the land.
Furthermore, the one too many deaths in
custody, in addition to the ‘police shootouts' - the most recent of
which has resulted in ‘witnesses' being detained for ‘further
investigation' - lends credence to perception that the PDRM is hostile
to a public it has sworn to protect. When we factor in issues
such as race and class, what we are left with is a police force bereft
of any legitimacy in its pursuit of enforcement of the law in this
country. Cops and robbers
However what is most damaging to the credibility of the police force,
and this has always been the case, is the perception (reality?) that it
is an institution of Umno and not an independent body. This goes for the
entire security apparatus of this country. When Perkasa chief
Ibrahim Ali boasts that if a military base is located in his
constituency, he would surely be re-elected and this passes without
comment from Umno-BN, it doesn't take a genius to realise that the
corridors of Umno power intersect with those of the security departments
in this country.When a former head of the PDRM is asked to head
an ‘independent commission' to investigate the police after the Bersih
3.0 civil demonstration after making statements that he considers the
demonstrators at fault, well, it's safe to assume that objectivity or
impartiality is not a trait or tradition of the PDRM. To throw out
further documented examples would be pedantic.
It really does not
matter who has to answer to what because at this point any answer will
be spun politically (which usually means Umno-BN will be at the losing
end) and also because the present regime since the tsunami of 2008 has
demonstrated no serious commitment to reform. Of course, I have
not seen any detailed proposals of reform from Pakatan Rakyat beyond the
superficial appeals to emotion but as always, the devil is in the
details. Right now we are witness to the power plays
which went on between two former high-ranking police officers which no
doubt crosses from the bureaucratic to criminal if the allegations and
counter-allegations are to be believed. It also highlights the shadowy
nexus between organised crime and law enforcement with added racial
overtones, which is naturally par for the course in this country.
Not only that, but we have a former Criminal Investigation Department
(CID) chief joining PAS to "uphold democracy", which implies that his
tenure as a high-ranking police official, not to mention not throwing in
with Umno (if his former occupation was not that in spirit), did
nothing to further the said aspiration. Some
would cheer at such a development but we should be cautious of former
civil servants, especially those from law enforcement divisions, overtly
proclaiming loyalty to political parties whose stewardship of the
country would ideally be only temporary. Of course, Fauzi Shaari (above) brings a wealth of insider knowledge which should serve the strategic objectives of PAS.
Not that I'm implying that he personally or that the opposition had
anything to do with this anonymous letter but rather that because of the
nature its anonymity, everyone is fair game. Not that it matters of
course, whoever wrote the letter has struck at the always soft
underbelly of the chitin exterior of the Umno beast. Distrust of law enforcers
As
usual, what I find of interest is not the corruption in high places in
Umno and the opposition response to it, but rather how we as a society
deal with it. Because of the PDRM's inability to carry out the
most mundane of police functions, a whole cottage industry has
mushroomed providing private security to citizens frustrated by the fact
that their security - in fact, their lives - depend on a dysfunctional
police force more interested in policing the opposition than being an
apolitical instrument of the state.
Depending
on how much money is at play, entire neighbourhoods suddenly become
gated communities (municipal laws becoming suddenly extremely porous) or
lone guards man ramshackle guard posts, offering the illusion of
security. The fact that these security companies are sometimes run
by former police officers or staffed by men and women who would not
qualify (and unfortunately the bar is pretty low) to join the PDRM is
evidence of how desperate the situation has become for those who use
these services and how as usual in Malaysia, the lines between business
and government is blurred.
There is a reason why in some place
the PDRM work very closely with security companies but we should also
not forget that in many cases, the PDRM is just relieved that they are
getting help from the private sector although they have no problem
taking credit (or as this current scandal implies, possibly manipulating
the stats) for the reduction of crime. Of course, not everyone
sees the upside of privatised security. Most times paying for peace of
mind - this is what those of us who pay taxes think we are paying for
when it comes to the law enforcement agencies in Malaysia - means living
with the fact that you are actually paying a ransom.
As one middle-class Malaysiakini
reader told me, her neighbourhood had a spike in crime before the
"security guards" came into the picture and suddenly there was zero
crime. "What can we do, at least now we are safe even though many of us
feel that we are paying not to be burgled or mugged". A culture of its own
This explosive mix of safety fears and distrust of law has brought out so many interesting questions. Another Malaysiakini reader asked my opinion on guns. "After a few burglars and car park robbers have been shot, they will think twice of attacking," he said. I
asked him if he thought that the mob attacks on captured snatch thieves
had reduced said attacks - I have no idea, but I don't think so - and
does he really think it's a good idea for citizens of a country with
such polarised race relations and history of political party race
agitation to have resort to firearms?
Guns are the solutions to a
very specific set of problems, problems that the average citizen of any
country would not have to deal with if it has functional institutions
(some American friends would disagree with me, of course). At
the end of the day, there is nothing the PDRM can say which would allay
the fears of a Malaysian public mired in partisanship and their own
racial preoccupations. The
police force has become a culture of its own succoured by religion,
racialism and handouts, riddled with corruption and sharing a symbiotic
relationship with the criminal underclass of Malaysian society and
beholden to political masters who have always been engaged in protracted
internal power struggles.
But yet I can say without hesitation
that there are still those within the ranks of the PDRM, and those who
have retired, who are honourable and understand the value of a
functional police force but whose ranks are slowly dwindling over the
long Umno-BN watch. If Pakatan is smart and if there is that much
dreamed of (amongst a certain section of the voting public) post-BN
happy ending, these voices would play a major role in the long process
of reforming the PDRM. Malaysiakini
We use to pay "protection" money. The guys will guarantee your safety.