Justice Assassinated
By Pakac Luteb
The former CID director Mat Zain Ismail is correct that Gani Patail and Musa Hassan perverted justice in Malaysia. Mat Zain Ismail however missed mentioning a crucial fact. The perversion of justice in Malaysia began in earnest under the rule of Mahathir.
Mahathir sacked good honest judges. Mahathir also eliminated trial by jury. It was the elimination of trial by jury that made possible Sodomy 1 and the conviction of Anwar Ibrahim.
It is the present lack of trial by jury that looms over Sodomy 2, another fabricated case which now threatens to return Anwar Ibrahim to prison.
The perversion of justice in Malaysia has turned that nation into a police state rife with corruption and crippled Malaysia’s development in all areas: social, economic and political.
The police no longer play their proper role in society. Instead, they are thugs who maintain the status quo of exploitation of Malaysia by a corrupt government.
The existence and operation of police assassination squads is example of both how low justice in Malaysia has sunk and how the police in Malaysia wield power far beyond police in any civilised state.
ASP Suresh boasts about having assassinated people as a member of an assassination squad. Assassinating people may be a boost to the ego of ASP Suresh but how does it affect society? The victim suffers pain and emotional anguish. The family, friends, relatives and colleagues of the victim suffer emotional anguish. The family of the victim suffers loss of income. Society suffers the loss of someone who contributes in many ways through work, buying a car, buying a house, buying food, clothing,
newspapers …. The government suffers loss of a taxpayer and voter.
What emotionally enables someone to assassinate another human being? It is lack of empathy. Empathy is the ability to understand and appreciate the feelings of others. Without empathy, people view others as mere objects, not human beings.
Not acknowledging others as human beings with feelings enables people to treat others with cruelty, ragging in schools, cheating people, lying to them, beating them or as in the case of ASP Suresh, assassinating them.
Malaysians need to develop empathy at all levels of society, including the police. How can that be done?
Some people have ideas about how to teach empathy. Malaysians should take serious consideration of those ideas.
An example of teaching empathy is:
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/10/08/pearlman.empathy.bullying/index.html
It could be a step forward for Malaysia, a nation that badly needs steps forward.
