Don't Politicize Teoh Beng Hock's death?

I'm writing this in response to Haris Ibrahim post (Guan Eng, we're going to hold you to your word but only if ...) and certain people's view that we shouldn't turn Teoh Beng Hock's death into a political issue.

We must not only ask how did Beng Hock died. We must also ask why did he had to die.

His death is the proof that Malaysia is a failed nation. This happens when institutions of law and governance are being misused to perpetuate the power of the ruling elites and when the ordinary people no longer trust these institutions.

As much as we want to respect the family wishes, we can’t run away from politicizing it. I don’t think Pakatan need to do very much to score political points. Their opponents are already scoring many own goals.

Leaving aside the question of who actually killed Beng Hock, he would still be alive today if he didn’t walk into the MACC building that day. That came about because of the blatant political persecution of Pakatan’s ADUNs by the MACC.

So I don’t really understand when people say don’t politicize the issue. The whole tragedy is about politics.

STOP TALKING, START ACTING

This is the title of of RPK's latest article.

And don't forget 1st August 2009

Say No To Inhumane and Immoral Laws

Say No To Inhumane and Immoral Law Enforcement Agencies

Onward Christian soldiers ......

Bro. Goh Keat Peng, is one Christian whom I have deep respect for though he may not know me. Small in stature but a giant in faith. A faith which I believe has been tested time and again through the years of faithful Christian service. I was sad when he stopped writing in his blog a few months ago. Like me, I guess, he was compelled to speak up again over the death of Teoh Beng Hock. He has to take a stand. Go here to read what he has written.

After reading the comments left on his blog, I left my comment too. This is what I wrote:

Reading the 25 preceding comments so far give us a fairly accurate picture of how Malaysians both Christians and non Christians see the Malaysian church and its leadership. And it isn’t a nice picture. What do you expect when not so long ago you have a Christian leader from the evangelical wing telling us Christians to remain apolitical. We should only be concerned with spiritual matters. I have a dream. That is to see on 1st of August pastors and priests in their vestments leading their congregations to the streets to protest against the ISA and to call of its abolition and to free all ISA detainees immediately or charge them in open court. Well this remains a dream. But everything begins with a dream.

We should ask the Lord to lead us into battle. Not with arms or violence. But with courage, love, mercy and justice.

Lead on, O King eternal,
Till sin’s fierce war shall cease,
And holiness shall whisper
The sweet amen of peace.
For not with swords’ loud clashing,
Nor roll of stirring drums;
With deeds of love and mercy
The heavenly kingdom comes


Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done in Malaysia as in heaven.

I'm angry again. Damn angry.

It's now 1.00am. I'm still roaming cyberspace to read the latest on what happened yesterday to Teo Beng Hock, the political secretary to Ean Yong, one of DAP Selangor State Exco member. He was called by MACC for questioning 2 days ago and was found dead yesterday, fallen to his death at the MACC building. He was supposed to get married today.

My previous post was supposed to be the last. After reading RPK's article on the above incident, I decided to resurrect this blog for the time being. It's not that I treat everything that RPK says as the gospel truth. In fact, there are things that he wrote which I disagreed. But what he wrote about this incident is not inconceivable. It's harder to believe that a mere witness can be subjected to 10 hours of interrogation. If it's true I dare not think of the fate of suspects in the hands of MACC. A case of assault by MACC officers has been highlighted in the press before.

I don't believe the many deaths that happened in police custody in the past were caused by the police with the intention to murder those suspects. But those were murders nonetheless, when through sheer recklessness the suspects were subjected to inhumane interrogation techniques which death is forseeable by a reasonable man.

Should we continue to tolerate these institutions, PDRM, MACC & RELA who uses disproportionate force to achieve their ends without any regard for the sanctity of life? How many more Kugans must die? How many more Beng Hocks must die? How many more nameless migrants/refugees must die? The answer is blowing in the wind? No. The answer depends on what we, the rakyat, the taxpayers who feed these institutions will do to them. I don't have the answer right now. But you can bet your last cent that I'll not rest nor be silent.

101st and Last Post?

After much thought I decided to make this my last post. This blog was started as a reflection on theology, investing and tea, hence tit. Nothing pornographic. A friend tried to find my blog by googling and ended up with links to all the porn sites!

After the events of of 10/11 and 25/11 (Bersih & Hindraf rally), I decided to change the direction of my blog. It became more political. It was the most active during the run up to the last General Election. I endorsed 2 candidates, Tony Pua for PJ Utara & Edward Lee for Bukit Gasing. Maybe because of that my blog was listed on one of the websites on the election as a socio-political blog.

Well after the euphoria of 8 March, I slowed down to about only 5/6 postings a month until the coup d'etat in Perak. The situation in Perak remains unresolved. Najib has completed 100 days in office with much fanfare (a great PR exercise - nothing but a PR exercise).

On the eve of the by-election in Kelantan, Pakatan is again fighting among themselves in Selangor after Penang and Kedah. Some may think it's good to fight openly in the name of transparency and openness. But from the way how some people attacked some people, I'll be surprised there will not be any bitterness even after they kissed and made up. How many times can people kissed and made up without doing irreparable damage to the relationship. There should be mutual respect. Frankly, if this go on, there will not be any Pakatan Rakyat comes the next GE.

I'm a lot less angry now compared to those days at the end of 2007. Maybe that's why the motivation to write is no longer there. That doesn't mean I will become apathetic about politics. I will find other avenues to be involved and engaged politically. I guess many have become disillusioned since 8 March. Most of the politicians we voted in didn't meet our expectations. But to revert to the pre 8 March 2008 political landscape is to condemn our future generations to the bondage of racism, religious extremism, corruption and to living in a failed nation.

Well, I would like to thank all who bother to take time to read what I wrote and especially the faithful few. I also know of at least 3 persons who put this blog on their blogroll.(There may be more). Thank you. Well, this blog may be resurrected if the Perak State Assembly is dissolved or at the next GE. That's the reason for the question mark at the end of title to this post.

Shalom

100th Post

I haven't posted anything for more than a month after my 99th post. Both busy with my part time theological studies and lack of inspiration. I'm still busy and am not inspired. Can't even think of a suitable title for this post. But I told myself I just need to write something. Otherwise this blog will die a natural death.

I'm thinking of reverting to just writing about what I intended to write at the outset when this blog was first started i.e. theology, investing and tea. Forget about politics. I'm really disappointed at what is happening to Pakatan Rakyat. I'm not even sure if PR will survive before the next GE at the rate things are going.

Just earlier today, we have PAS Youth intending to hold 'intellectual discourse' with UMNO Youth, what ever that is. This came just days after the party rejected any unity talks with UMNO and reiterated its commitment to PR. Hey, we are not stupid, PAS! Then Hadi Awang said it is not the right time remove the Bumiputera quota. Whatever happened to Anwar's new economic agenda then? Now, I read that DAP Kedah rightly or wrongly has quit the Pakatan government in Kedah. What 's next?

I received an email yesterday to attend the so called 100,000 Pakatan Rakyat mammoth rally in Kelana Jaya stadium. I decided not to go as I know it's nothing but just another round of BN/UMNO bashing. I was right. Only 4,000 turned up despite the presence of PR's big guns. They just need to take the cue that the rakyat is fed up. We don't need any more speeches demonizing BN/UMNO anymore. That they are demons all of us know already. What we want to hear are your plans and programmes for the States under PR and what you will do when you come into power. I think people are tired of telling you to form a shadow cabinet. Shadow commitees are not good enough. Even that, we have not heard of them anymore. As the days go by PR is certainly not becoming a government in waiting. It may not last beyond Anwar.

It sounds like I'm fed up with politics. No, I'm just fed up with politicians. We cannot be afford to be apolitical. In fact, I'm seriously considering joining a political party. It's easy to sit behind a laptop to give my views. But there is a price to be paid for getting involved directly, to get your hands dirtied. Despite my present feelings for some politicians, I still salute some of them for willing to put their liberty on the line for their political beliefs and in order to serve the nation.