During my final years with a multi-national company prior to my retirement, I was in the HR department and often had to make decisions pertaining to discipline. Needless to say whatever decisions I make on the cases before me, they are bound to impact the future of the parties involved.
I found very early that if I act according to the terms of reference of my office, the rules and regulations of the company and the general laws of Malaysia, I could make decisions without fear or favour.
There are always two sides to a dispute. The issue of which side is right and which side is wrong often get blurred when emotions are high.
Thus it is important to get the facts of the case right and relate them to the pertinent rules and regulations. The problem is always that the facts are not properly presented or that the parties involved are not aware of the rules and regulations.
Who is right?
NST on 28 April 2010 reported an incident where a 15-year old schoolboy was shot dead by Police.
“It was learnt that the victim and a schoolmate had gone to Section 7 (Shah Alam) just after midnight to help a friend who had a flat motorcycle tyre.
It was believed that the victim was then involved in a minor accident after which he was chased by several motorcyclists. Two police cars then joined in the chase.
It was reported that the police tried to stop the car by firing several shots at the tyres, but one bullet hit Aminulrasyid in the back of his head”
Aminulrasyid’s family said that he ‘was a good boy who was not involved in any illegal activities’.
His mother said “I know my son. He is not a criminal”.
The Home Minister ordered a full-scale investigation into the case.
The blame game
In the Hulu Selangor by-election on 25 April 2010, Pakatan Rakyat candidate, Zaid Ibrahim of the PKR, lost to the Barisan Nasional candidate, Kamalanathan of the MIC. Zaid said that he accepted the verdict of the electorate but attributed his defeat to vote buying by the Barisan Nasional.
Khalid Ibrahim attributed the defeat to ‘unbalanced reporting by mainstream media’. He said “the media did not provide coverage from our perspective and did not provide a level playing field of information to the voters”.
The Sun on 28 April reported that MCA ‘blames Perkasa for loss of Chinese support’.
MCA vice-president, Gan Ping Sieu, lambasted Perkasa president, Ibrahim Ali, for calling on the government to ‘delay allocations and project approvals for the Chinese community (in Hulu Selangor). Ibrahim made the statement after the results of the by-election showed that Chinese support for the Barisan Nasional had reduced. He allegedly branded the Chinese as ‘ungrateful and unappreciative’.
Gan reportedly said that one of the major reasons that the coalition lost the Chinese confidence was the ‘real or perceived alliance and close working relationship of certain BN leaders with ultra-rightist organisations’.
Who is responsible?
A Chinese national who made headlines previously by refusing to fly home has caused new headaches for the authorities. Apparently she absconded from a hospital.
Wang Peng, a Falun Gong practitioner ran away from Serdang Hospital a day after she was admitted by Malaysia Airlines security personnel on Friday.
Wang had been staying in the KLIA satellite terminal since her arrival from Australia on April 16. She was sent to a private hospital at the airport on Friday after a fainting spell and then sent to Serdang Hospital for treatment. She was found missing the next morning.
NST reported that ‘the authorities did not have a clue as to how Wang managed to escape from the hospital’.
The Teoh Beng Hock inquest
The NST headline read ‘No red spots in eyes to show he was strangled’
The statement was attributed to British forensic pathologist Dr Peter Vanezis. He was continuing his testimony into the Teoh Beng Hock inquest. He is appearing for the MACC. He had made a poliuce report after receiving an ‘offensive, intimidating and threatening’ email. His testimony is in direct contrast to earlier statements from Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand who said that Teoh Beng Hock has been strangled. Dr Pornthip was not present at the inquest because she ‘fears for her safety’. She was originally slated to testify on April 20 but was unable to attend because of ”prior commitments”, according to a letter sent to the Selangor government from the Thai Ministry of Justice on April 8.
She subsequently revealed that she was under pressure to pull out of the inquest, which had been relayed to the Thai government through “informal channels”.
Who to blame?
Another NST headline ‘RTD chief suspects moles in his dept’.
Terengganu state RTD chief Abdul Rahman Emang Anyie suspect there are moles in his department and wants to get to the bottom of it.
His suspicion is based on the lack of success in ‘operations carried out over the last few weeks’.
I am including the above because I feel this to be typical bureaucratic reaction. The chief went public on this because he wanted to show that he will take action. However it only serves to show his lack of control over his own officers.
