I Know People........

Getting Away with Murder in Malaysia
Written by Our Correspondent
www.asiasentinel.com

It's best to be connected to the ruling national coalition
See also: Malaysian Aide's July Death 'Probably Homicide'

On July 16, according to the testimony of a Thai pathologist, Teoh Beng Hock, a 29-year-old aide to an opposition politician, was probably beaten during a marathon questioning session, sodomized, strangled unconscious, dragged to a window of the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission in Kuala Lumpur and thrown to his death.

The country's law enforcement establishment maintains that Teoh committed suicide by leaping from the MACC building after the inquiry was concluded into irregularities in his boss's accounts. But it is far from the first "suicide" in custody and what happened to Teoh happens all too frequently when the luckless collide with the powerful in Malaysia. His real killers are unlikely ever to be identified. As many as 350 people have died in custody since 1990. The privileged are rarely brought to trial.

The most infamous recent case before Teoh's is that of Altantuya Shaariibuu, a 28 year-old Mongolian translator who was murdered in 2006 by two bodyguards of then-Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. Altantuya had been jilted by Najib's best friend, Abdul Razak Baginda, and was demanding money from him.

Although numerous witnesses and evidence connected Najib to the affair, he was never questioned or put on the witness stand, nor was his chief of staff, Musa Safri, who Baginda said in a cautioned statement he approached about getting Altantuya from ceasing her harrassment. His two bodyguards were convicted of the murder although one, in his confession, said the two men were to be paid RM100,000 to kill her. The court never asked who would pay the money. The confession wasn't allowed in court. Baginda was acquitted without having to put on a defense and promptly left the country and Najib was eventually named Prime Minister.

Such questionable cases go back to at least the early 1980s when Sultan Mahmud Iskandar of Johor was dubbed the "killer king" by the British tabloids after he shot a trespasser to death on his property. He also reportedly assaulted and killed a golf caddy who was said to have laughed when the sultan missed a golf stroke and he maimed the caddy's brother. He later was alleged to have assaulted and injured a hockey coach, kicking off a constitutional crisis that led to former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's removal of legal immunity from prosecution for all of Malaysia's nine sultans, although Iskandar was never either arrested or jailed.

There are plenty more. In 1988 an attractive young woman named Mustakizah Jaafar, who owned a video rental business in Malacca, was found hacked to death by unknown assailants. Mustakizah reportedly was pregnant at the time of her death. She was believed to be having an affair with Megat Junid Megat Ayob, the onetime UMNO deputy home affairs minister, who died in January 2008 of cancer.

No one was ever charged with Mutakizah's murder. The widespread gossip about Megat Junid's connection with Mustakizah didn't do his political career any harm. He was ultimately named Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister in 1997 although he lost his parliamentary seat two years later and retired from politics.

In 2002 the decomposed body of Haslezah Ishak, the attractive young second wife of Raja Jaafar Raja Muda Musa, second in line to the throne of Perak, whom he had met in a karaoke lounge, was found under a bridge, clad in a bra and jeans. Four men, including a palace aide, a bomoh or witch doctor, a fisherman and a carpenter were arrested and jailed for the murder. No one was ever arrested or questioned for hiring them to kill her although suspicion fell on the prince's wife, Rajah Mahani, who had been publicly consulting witch doctors over her suspicion that Haslezah had put a spell on her husband.

In 2003, another attractive young woman, Norita Shamsudin, was found murdered in an apartment in a Kuala Lumpur suburb. A night club guest relations officer, Norita had been rumored to be having an affair with Shahidan Kassim, then chief minister of the state of Perlis. Although another individual was arrested and charged with the murder, he was later declared not guilty and no one else was ever charged. According to local news reports, the inspector general of police, Mohd Bakri Omar, classified the case under Malaysia's Official Secrets Act and no details were ever released.

Earlier this year, authorities finally completed an inquest into the 2007 death of beautiful ethnic Indian actress Sujatha Krishnan, who also worked part-time as a secretary to S.Vell Paari, chief executive officer of Maika Holdings and the son of S. Samy Vellu, the head of the Malaysian Indian Congress, a component of the ruling national coalition. Sujatha died in a hospital in a Kuala Lumpur suburb of Klang three days after she had been rushed in for treatment. Her body was cremated almost immediately after her death. The coroner ruled she had died after poisoning herself by drinking poison. The family vainly requested an investigation into her death.

For those at the bottom end of Malaysia's power spectrum, life can be considerably tougher if suspicion falls on them. According to the reform organization Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture (MADPET), a distressing number of suspects have died in custody. "Relying merely on data provided by the government, it has been disclosed that there have been 150 deaths from 1990 until 2004 (10.7 per year), 108 deaths between 2000 and 2006 (18 per year), and, 85 deaths between 2003 and 2007 (21.25 per year)," the organization said.

According to a 2003 report by the Asian Human Rights Commission – the same year Norita was killed ‑ statistics released in Malaysia's parliament in October of that year by the Home Ministry, showed 23 people died in police custody between 2002 and July 2003. Of those, 16 died in 2002 although according to the report, other figures indicated that 18 had died in custody in the first nine months of 2002 alone. Parliament was told in October 2002 that a total of 34 persons had died in police custody since 2000 ‑ six in 2000, 10 in 2001 and 18 from January to September 2002.

According to the report, then-Deputy Home Minister Chor Chee Heung denied that methods of torture used to obtain information from suspects led to their deaths. He claimed that the majority of deaths were the result of attempts to escape from police custody. Typical seemed to be the case of Hasrizal Hamzah, who had been detained on suspicion of murder in October of 2003. According to a senior assistant police commissioner, Harizal confessed to the murder and then, as he was being moved to a new location, supposedly shoved the accompanying policeman aside despite being handcuffed, and leapt over a balcony to his death.

Earlier this year, the Indian community was enraged by the death of a 22-year-old named Kugan Ananthan who was detained on Jan. 15 on suspicion of stealing luxury cars. He reportedly collapsed during questioning and died on Jan. 20 from "acute pulmonary edema," or fluid in the lungs. However, after his body was released to his family, an autopsy found that he had suffered from internal bleeding in his heart, left lung, spleen, kidneys and scalp area. The soles of his feet had been beaten and the back of his neck and spine area were bleeding. His back was covered with contusions, beating marks and bruises. He had sustained more than 10 serious burn marks, probably as the result of being burned by a heated v-shaped iron bar. He had also been starved during the entire time he was being tortured, allegedly by as many as seven police officers, his family charged.

"There is a clear lack of supervision, medical care and concern for the general well-being and rights of suspects while under police remand," the Human Rights Commission said in its 2003 report. It does not appear that anything has changed. The odds are that the cases involving both Kugan and Teoh will end up the same way scores of others have.

National pride, National tragedy

No explainations needed. But read http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10603487 if you want to.

Exonerating Oneself

We Blame the Chinese for Everything that is Wrong with Us

That’s right. The Chinese is the best excuse for average Malay to hide their failures and shortcomings. In fact, we do not have to think about success because should we fail in anything we can blame the Chinese.

For instance, we always see potential Malay businesses going belly up. We see soya sauce factory, shoe factory, linen factory, chili sauce factory owned by Malays having to be shut down. When asked the reason that is floated is that they are being sabotaged by Chinese suppliers who refuse to supply them the materials they need to continue production.

I recalled in the early days of Harakah, UMNO did everything to stop all printers in Kuala Lumpur not to print Harakah. UMNO’s hope is that when there is no printer willing to do so, then HArakah will have to shut down completely.

So, what the Harakah people did was they carried with them a stack of cash and went looking for printers who are willing to do it. And they found a printing company owned by a Chinaman somewhere in Kepong. His business was not doing that well apparently.

So, the Harakah people went to his office and put the stack of cash on his desk. And told the Chinese printer that if he prints copies of Harakah, and willing to face all obstacles, they will ensure that the Chinaman be paid in cash before the printing of every issue of Harakah.

The Chinaman who owned the printing shop immediately agreed and the rest is history. According to my Harakah sources, the Chinaman is now a millionaire and has sold the printing company to a Malay consortium. Apparently, Harakah rescued him from the brink of bankruptcy and in turn made him a millionaire.

So, my point being, even in the most dire and dangerous circumstance, there will be a Chinese supplier willing to supply anything we want. The case of Harakah proves that there is no such thing as a Chinese Supplier conspiracy to sabotage Malay businesses.

The Real Story Behind The Closing Down of Malay Businesses

These Malay businesses are always behind on their payments despite getting their line of credit extended frequently. Since Chinese suppliers are not Santa Clauses, they have a limit to how much credit they can give.

And MOST MALAY business do not understand the value of operating business with cash as opposed to credit. It’s different with Chinese businesses where they will make sure that they repay their debts fast before thinking of expanding or doing anything else.

So, when the Chinese suppliers refuse to supply the Malay unless they make some payments on their outstanding debt, the Malay businesses usually simply collapse like a deck of cards. Bear in mind that Malays who venture into small and medium businesses are mostly UMNO supporters or members because they get easy access to government loans and financial support.

With their UMNO tradition of blaming the Chinese for everything that is wrong with this country, they started spreading false rumors about Chinese suppliers sabotaging their businesses because they are Malays.

I know of a Malay lady somewhere in Teluk Intan who runs a clothing store and the store has been operating for the last 20 years. Every month she will come down to KL near Jalan Hang Tuah to get her supply of clothes and every time the suppliers there do not mind extending her a line of credit. Why? Because she is always prompt on her payments. That lady proves there is no malice in the hearts of Chinese suppliers.

Why would Chinese Suppliers Sabotage Their Clients?

Most Malays are simple minded. They believe this crap the moment they hear it. They forgot that is more Malays owns business, more Malays would need supplies from the Chinese suppliers. The more Malays going into business, the more business the Chinese suppliers will be.

In fact, if there is a lot of Malay businessmen, the Chinese supplier might even convert into Islam so that people will continue getting their supplies especially those who are supplying food products.

It doesn’t make sense. The Chinese in this country will not go anywhere. They are interested to make money, not because they want to be rich so much, but to send their children to get quality educations overseas and some retirement funds. I always wonder why many Chinese families that I know had amssed a lot of wealth during their working years, but they retire into a very average life. It turns out that most of their wealth had gone to sending their children to Australia, Britain, America for quality tertiary education.

UMNO is Using The Same Excuse Too

See, when UMNO fails, the first thing they do is to blame the Chinese. They say that the Chinese will take over the country. They say that the Chinese will destroy the DEB and the Malays. They say that PAS has been used by the Chinese.

Hasan Ali said that his support for SELCAT is part of his quest to defend the rights of the Malays because Teng Chang Kim is Chinese. He forgets that for the last 2 elections, the Malays in Kapar voted Teng Chang Kim overwhelmingly. Teng has one of the highest majority in the Selangor DUN because he gets votes not just from Chinese and Indians, but also Malays.

UMNO’s actions is tantamount to the long list of failed Malay businessmen who do not know how to control their business’s finances. So, in order to hide their failures, they blame the Chinese for everything.

In fact, they’re the biggest losers of them all and they will fail in whatever the do. We talk about Dr Mahathir bin Muhammad Iskandar Kutty, being the most successful UMNO Prime Minister. Maybe, it’s because Dr Mahathir is not a Malay?

Tulang Besi

Invisible Dominos

How does corruption affect us? Let me count the ways
Raja Petra Kamarudin

Most Malaysians don’t think twice about the level of corruption in this country. Some even welcome it. How many times have you illegally parked your car or dashed through a red light and paid the policeman a bribe of RM50 or RM100 to save paying a RM300 fine if you are issued a summons?

And that is cheap, mind you. In the police lockup, we have to pay the policemen RM100 for a three-minute local phone call and RM10 for a stick of cigarette. So that comes to RM200 per packet. I paid RM200 for one night’s ‘protection’. For RM200 I was placed in a ‘special’ lockup where a detainee awaiting trial for murder took me under his wing so that the others could not get at me. He even threw in a cigarette as part of the ‘package’. And it costs RM250,000 for a drug dealer to escape the gallows.

My wife, who in 2001 was detained overnight in the women’s section of the police lockup, the same night I was arrested, spoke to one Indonesian woman who was on her second drug dealing arrest. The first time she and her husband were arrested they had to pay RM500,000 for both of them to get released. They were trying to arrange another RM500,000 to get out of this second arrest. So that came to RM1 million for two arrests. Imagine how much they must be making dealing in drugs. More importantly, imagine how much the police are making each time they get arrested.

I spoke to many of my Chinese businessmen friends and they admitted that it is easier to do business when corruption is involved. This saves time since you can bypass the normal requirements and get your applications approved much faster by just bribing the government officers. Sometimes, when you are not ‘eligible’, you can become eligible by paying bribes. So bribes actually help when faced with certain obstacles -- and there are definitely many 'obstacles' when dealing with governments in third world countries like Malaysia.

When corruption does not affect you directly you are not too concerned about it. It is like crime. As long as the robbers do not break into your home to rob you and rape your wife or daughter then who bothers too much about the high level of crime? It is when it is you that is hit that you become outraged about the high crime rate and the low level of police enforcement and lack of effort to combat crime.

Is it not those who suffer or suffered from cancer, or have lost a loved one to cancer, who gets involved in anti-cancer movements or associations? How many of us who never had to face cancer would want to donate generously to the anti-cancer effort? We never bother about something that does not affect us. And the same goes for other things as well, such as corruption and whatnot.

But corruption does affect us, contrary to what many may be thinking. Sometimes it affects us directly. Most times, indirectly.

An average of ten people die each day on Malaysian roads. Many more are seriously injured or maimed, sometimes resulting in them no longer being able to work and earn a living. The main reason for this is that Malaysians do not know how to drive.

Now, let there not be any confusion over this statement. Malaysians may have a valid driving licence. But Malaysians do not know how to drive. Do you know that in some European countries you can exchange your Singapore driving licence for a driving licence of your host country? But they will not accept a Malaysian driving licence. Malaysian driving licences tak laku (have no value).

I know someone, now deceased, who had a driving licence but could not even reverse her car out of the driveway. How in heaven’s name did she pass her driving test and get a licence if she can’t even reverse her car? And for sure she can’t drive.

Well, she told me. The driving school has two schemes. One is the ‘guaranteed to pass your driving test’ scheme -- which means you will pass your driving test and get a driving licence even if you can’t drive. The other scheme involves you taking the driving test and passing it all on your own.

The trouble with this legitimate scheme, though, is that even if you know how to drive they will still fail you as ‘punishment’ for refusing to participate in the ‘guaranteed to pass’ scheme. So it is better to pay, even if you can drive, and especially if you can’t, to be assured off a driving licence.

So, about ten people a day die on Malaysian roads because most of them have a driving licence but do not know how to drive. And those who die could be you, a family member, an office colleague, or a close friend. In short, that person who died in the traffic accident could be someone you know or someone close to you.

Therefore, corruption does affect you when you lose someone because of corruption -- or if it is you who dies. If this person were forced to learn how to drive properly before being given a licence then maybe he or she would still be alive today. I have personally lost scores of friends and relatives due to traffic accidents over the last 50 years or so. Sometimes it is their fault. The sad part is when the accident is someone else’s fault and you are a victim of reckless or inconsiderate drivers who have absolutely no road sense whatsoever.

I have also lost people dear to me due to poor medical facilities. There are not enough hospital beds in the intensive care unit or not enough dialysis machines or whatever, which results in poor medical facilities. And these people had to die because of this.

It is not that Malaysia does not have enough money to improve its medical facilities. It is that Malaysia spends the money for the wrong reasons -- and spends too much on top of that because there are kickbacks and commissions involved in every project and procurement. So medical facilities take a back seat and many of us have lost friends, colleagues and relatives because they were denied prompt or proper medical treatment.

If the money had not been wasted and had instead been spent for the right purposes -- medical and education being the two most important -- then Malaysia would be a much better place. As it is, our medical and educational facilities are below the so-called first world infrastructure that we are so proud of.

We have the best weapons. We have fantastic bridges, buildings and roads. Heck, we even have submarines now. But we are extremely lacking when it comes to medical and educational facilities. And health and education are far more important than all those white elephants and monuments that swallow billions but bring no income to the country, as would most white elephants and monuments.

Cars cost a lot in Malaysia. That, again, is due to corruption. If the government allowed a free-for-all in the car industry then cars would cost much cheaper than they do now. But they can’t allow a free-for-all. They can’t because cronies of those who walk in the corridors of power are making a lot of money from the car import permits and whatnot. So Malaysians have to pay double what they should actually be paying for their cars. But their salaries are not double what they should be.

So you end up a slave of your car instead of the car being your slave. You work for your car when your car should instead be working for you. And because of the sorry state of public transport you have no choice but to own a car. You just can’t get around without a car like you can in so many other countries.

After paying for your car what do you have left at the end of the day? Most times, because of your car, you can’t afford a decent home. Malaysians are actually very poor. The cost of living is so high while the salaries are very low. And corruption keeps Malaysians poor.

So perish the thought if you thought corruption does not affect you. It does, in more ways than you realise. And only naïve people would believe that corruption does not personally affect them or is actually beneficial to business. Malaysians are paying a heavy price for corruption. And the worse thing is we do not even realise we are paying.

Malaysians pay billions in all forms of taxes. But a lot of this money does not come back to us. It gets flushed down the toilet. Billions are lost -- RM30 billion by some estimates. And this is our money. Imagine if we had to pay only RM0.30 for a litre of petrol or RM1.80 for a packet of cigarette or RM50,000 for a Honda Civic. Would you not have more money left in your pocket? Nowadays, your money is finished by the tenth day of the month and you have to wait another 20 days for your next paycheque.

Don’t even start talking about saving money for a rainy day. This is just not possible. Corruption has taken away all your money whereas considering how rich this country is we should not even be asked to pay taxes or, even if we are, it could be a very minimum level that hardly hurts us.

For decades, the opposition has been fighting for the government to set a fair minimum wage appropriate to the cost of living. But the government does not agree to the RM900 per month minimum wage proposal.

In fact, even RM900 is still too low. Countries like the UK have announced that the minimum wage will now be adjusted to about RM35 per hour. That is what some Malaysians earn in a day. Yet the price of cigarettes in the UK is almost the same as in Malaysia. And so goes for many other things as well -- while cars are half the price or less compared to Malaysia.

No, Malaysians are poor. You earn so much less and have to pay so much more. Then corruption takes away what little you have left. And Malaysians still believe that corruption does not affect them directly.

And that is why I am of the opinion that PAS is not focused. They should be addressing the core issues. And the core issue here is corruption and how it affects us. Banning beer or sexy singers from appearing on stage does not offer Malaysians a better life. Even if beer and sexy singers are banned Malaysians will still remain poor. And we will remain poor because our money is being plundered and our low salaries and high taxes do not allow us a decent life.

Prophet Muhammad declared war on riba’ (usury). Riba’ basically means making money from no effort of your own. And, according to Sheikh Imran Hossein, there are 80 levels of riba’, corruption being one of them (since corruption involves making money in a dishonest manner and from no effort of your own).

But PAS does not declare war on corruption. PAS declares war on beer and sexy women. PAS does not understand that corruption and poverty is the real enemy. Poverty enslaves us. Corruption makes us even poorer.

PAS should take up the Prophet’s real fight, the fight against corruption and poverty. And poverty is the breeding ground of corruption. When you are broke one week after receiving your salary you need to resort to corruption to survive.