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PAS : KE ARAH PEMERINTAHAN ISLAM YANG ADIL
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-------- Original Message --------
Subject: malaysiakini EDITORIAL/OPINION (June 25)
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2000 15:50:03 -0000
From: "Editor " <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
ANNOUNCEMENT
Excessive traffic into Malaysiakini has shut down our server in the
United States today (Monday, July 24). Our web host informed us that
its server is unable to handle the heavy flow of traffic, and thus we
are in the process moving the website elsewhere. Malaysiakini should
be back online in the next few days. We apologise for the unforeseen
problem. Meanwhile, here are today's news reports.
----------
NEW EDITORIAL
Impending crackdown?
Steven Gan
Remember not too long ago when just about everyone was braying for
the defence minister's blood for allowing an appalling breach in
national security. No? Then fast rewind three weeks.
In its editorial on July 4, the New Straits Times eloquently lamented
that the "robbery of weapons is only scripted by screen writers. It
does not spring up even in the lawless countries when rebellious
groups are armed with weapons supplied by mercenary dealers. It
should not have happened in this country. We, as Malaysians, want
answers. Indeed everyone seeks an explanation, transparent and
comprehensive."
It further said that Defence Minister Najib Abdul Razak
should "ultimately be held accountable". Anything less, it insisted,
would be "untenable, unacceptable and scandalous".
We couldn't agree more. To be honest, we couldn't have written a
better editorial. We, too, seek answers, transparent and
comprehensive - not the selective and piecemeal explanations dished
out by the government so far.
More so, heads must roll for such an embarrassing breach in our
national security. And it must not stop with just the arrested
terrorists.
It is also interesting to note, too, how the word "drama" to describe
the arms heist is abruptly no longer "officially sanctioned".
Surely, the manner in which the heist was pulled was dramatic.
Don't just take our words. Take, for example, The Star.
According to its senior journalist, Wong Chun Wai, the arm heist
drama was "a bad script, even for a B-grade action movie. The plot,
or the lack of it, would be more befitting a low-budget comedy".
Likewise, The Sun newspaper described the heist as "a stunt straight
out of the Hollywood movie 'The Rock'."
Even Najib considered the daring robbery as "sleek, cleverly planned
and executed".
But while it was dramatic, it would, however, require a leap of
imagination to believe that this Hollywood-style robbery, and later
the torture and murder of two hostages, were staged by the
government, ostensibly to weaken PAS.
That some quarters would think so goes to show that the government
has a credibility problem, as alluded to by former deputy prime
minister Musa Hitam in an malaysiakini interview two months ago.
Not surprisingly, in the past week the government has been on
the "defensive" in overcoming what would have been easily dismissed
as an off-the-planet theory in normal times.
But we are not living in normal times. Indeed, the government has a
credibility gap since the controversial sacking of former deputy
prime minister Anwar Ibrahim.
The way Anwar was fired, charged and sentenced only helped to
reinforce the perception that the demise of the country's once second
most powerful man could be a political "sandiwara".
That "drama" will come to a climax on Aug 4, next Friday. The High
Court has announced that it will hand down with a decision on the
sodomy charges against Anwar.
The reformasi movement, backed by Keadilan, has vowed to gather in
front of the High Court come judgment day.
But expect the government to try its level best to stop this from
happening, much like what it did with the Black 14 rally last April.
Expect also the suggestion that the gathering will be violent, with
perhaps a few Molotov cocktails thrown in. And expect pre-rally
arrests of its key organisers.
Clearly, the verdict of Anwar's sodomy trial will have great impact
on the political landscape of Malaysia as Prime Minister Dr Mahathir
Mohamad had justified Anwar's sacking in September 1998 on the
latter's alleged "immoral activities".
However, the verdict will not patch up the political divide. A
conviction will add much needed fodder to the flagging reformasi
movement. An acquittal will throw more doubt on Mahathir's
credibility and the perception of that a "sandiwara" is at work.
Next Friday, Anwar will face his judgment. So, too, will Mahathir.
----------
WORLDVIEW
Harun Rashid
Literature and real life
There are said to be only seven basic plots, and all literature is a
variation of one of them. Hollywood
has managed to develop these basic plots in a multitude of
spectacular extravaganzas, with lots of
violence euphemistically called "action".
Murders and explosions occur every few minutes, and the minds of
children who watch become so jaded by the repetition that murder in
cold blood soon fails to elicit any emotion.
Malaysian news offers each day some scenario to inspire artists and
writers. Consider the following news report from Bernama, the
national news agency.
Six men shot dead by police all had gunshot wounds on head
Tumpat, July 3 (Bernama) - A coroner's inquest into the police
shooting of six men here in 1998 heard Monday that the shots that
caused their deaths were mostly aimed at the head.
Kuala Terengganu Hospital pathologist Dr Abdul Karim Tajuddin said
the post-mortem on the six bodies showed that all of them had more
than one gunshot mark on their head some of which had penetrated the
forehead, eye and ear.
"The shootings were also from more than one direction as there were
victims with marks showing they were shot from the front, right and
left," he said.
In the incident at Kampung Neting on the Kota Baru-Pengkalan Kubor
road on Oct 3, 1998, the six men who were in a van when (they) were
shot by police on suspicion of smuggling firearms.
The six were Ramachandran Sitaraman, 37, Subramaniam Kannapareddy,
38, Ravi Suppayah, 33, Ganesan Sinasamy, 30, Shumugam Kupusamy, 21,
Rajendran Subramaniam, 37.
The inquest is being held after the Bar Council sent a memorandum to
Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was then (also) the home
minister.
It is conducted by magistrate Ahmad Bazli Bahruddin, acting as the
coroner, while Bar Council Criminal Law Committee chairman Mohamed
Apandi Ali is holding a watching brief for the council.
Abdul Karim said the post-mortem also revealed multiple gunshot
wounds that damaged the brain causing instant death.
There were also gunshot wounds on the six men's arms, chest,
shoulders, ribs and abdomen, he said.
Eight shots had pierced Ravi's body, six Shumugam's body and five
each Rajendran's and Ganesan's bodies, he said.
Abdul Karim concluded that some of the deceased were shot at close
range based on the bullet marks on the body.
"There were burnt marks on Subramaniam's body at the upper part of
his right chest caused by the heat of the bullet fired from a
distance of less than one metre," he said.
The inquest will continue on Aug 14.
(Ends Bernama report)
The details of this example of police vigilance are not germane to
literary purposes. Pertinent for literature is its ability to provide
suggestion to the imagination upon which to base fictional
works.
While purely imaginary events have the major role in literary
productions, still, examples taken from daily life can be instructive.
The deputy prime minister invites our youth to become police cadets,
that they may better appreciate the important role the police play in
protecting society from dangerous deviant elements.
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