This is very weird…

/* December 17th, 2009 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments »
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This is bordering on impossible, but being Bolehland…..

The guy was arrested on 6 December and given remand for 9 days. The very next day, a police officer said the report against him was false. So, he should be released right? Wrong. He was still kept for 9 days and on top of that, was beaten! This is serious allegation indeed.

While we can praise the police for catching criminals, these kinds of black marks only damages their reputation. Kerana nila setitik, rosak susu sebelanga. I think the nila is more than just one titik (drop).

Maybe police officers need to undergo annual psychiatric evaluation to ensure they are of sound mind. Remember that one out of four Malaysian have some sort of mental health problem (That’s according to national institute of mental health).

A man detained on suspicion of sexual harassment was tortured and beaten despite the Police being aware that a false report was lodged against him.

S Isaikumar,28, lodged a report at the Seremban police headquarters. He was accompanied by his lawyer N Surendran.

Surendran said that Isaikumar (right) was arrested on Dec 6, 2009 and remanded for nine days based on a police report lodged against him for sexual harassment.

The following day, on Dec 7, Isaikumar was told by the investigating police officer that the charges made against him were based on a false report.

Nevertheless, the police only released Isaikumar (right) on Dec 14, during which time Isaikumar alleged he was assaulted and subject to humiliation by the police.

“Isaikumar was slapped, abused and beaten with PVC pipes by a group of police officers,” said Surendran.

He claimed that at one stage a female police officer sat on Isaikumar’s chest and inserted a shoe she was wearing into his mouth.

The police, he alleged, also took photos of Isaikumar in the nude, including photos of his genitals.

Surendran further claimed that his client was denied medical treatment despite running a fever.

Though the lockup where he was detained held seven prisoners, Isaikumar alleged they were given only three packets of food to be shared among them.

‘He was innocent’

Chief investigating officer, Inspector Ahmad Sobri Amir Salim, cleared Isaikumar of any wrongdoing in a letter on Dec 14, on the day of his release.

“Despite his innocence, Isaikumar went through an unnecessary and unwarranted nine days of remand, coupled with abuse by police officers,” said Surendran.

The lawyer said the case should be investigated by Bukit Aman because he felt the Seremban police would not conduct a fair inquiry.

Surendran called on inspector-general of police Musa Hassan to ‘clean up his own house’ as there have been many cases and reports of police brutality.

Meanwhile Parti Sosialis Malaysia secretary, S Arutchelvam, demanded Bukit Aman form a special team to investigate this latest report of police brutality.

Arutchelvam said that if there was no action within two weeks, PSM would take up the case with Bukit Aman.

He said the case clearly showed a “lack of police professionalism” where police were “victimising” an innocent citizen.

Isaikumar, Surendran and Arutchelvam were among a group who attempted to enter the IPK premises but were denied entry.

There was also an attempt to meet with the deputy chief police officer of Negri Sembilan, but an officer denied them permission.

Instead, the group was advised to lodge a report at the nearby Seremban town police station.

Among the political leaders present were Senawang state assemblyperson P Gunasekaran, Temiang assemblyperson Ng Chin Tsai, Negeri Sembilan PKR deputy chairman S Haridass and state PKR Youth deputy chief Norazizi Aziz.

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Merging Tamil SPM subjects

/* December 17th, 2009 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments »
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This is an interesting article by Mr Muthurasan. He echoes two things which I’ve said earlier: scrap Moral and merging the two Tamil papers into one at SPM level. I still think that there should be some time allocated for proper study before the 10, or 10+2, or 12 subject limit is implemented.
http://malaysiakini.com/news/120058

Merge Tamil language, literature to solve impasse

R Mutharasan
Dec 17, 09
1:59pm

There is no doubt that Tamil literature at the SPM level must be saved at all costs as there are many compelling reasons to retain it. Indian students should be given an opportunity to choose their own preferential subjects in addition to their core subjects especially if the preferential subject is their mother tongue. There should not be any hindrance to them in taking those subjects in the name of ‘capping’.

Worst still, in the name of solving the problem there should not be a system of ’10 + 2′ whereby the student taking Tamil language or Tamil literature is given ‘second-class’ treatment by saying that the subjects if taken outside the maximum 10 would not be considered for scholarships and CGPA grading.

I firmly believe that only a person who went through Tamil school at the primary level and took Tamil as a subject at the SRP/SPM/STPM examinations would be able to understand the issue better.

Although many Indian students go to Tamil schools for their primary education, only few excel in Tamil literature because in Tamil schools they only learn the subjects in the Tamil language but are not given enough exposure in Tamil literature content.

It is only when the family consists of Tamil scholars or enthusiasts willing to walk the extra mile to encourage their children to learn more about literature that the student develops an interest in the subject and ends up taking Tamil literature at the SPM level. Of course, there are also many Tamil school students who excel in Tamil language or literature out of their own interest and love for the language without any parental and family support.

The interest and enthusiasm of the Tamil school student for Tamil language comes to an abrupt end when he enters secondary school. Here, there is no opportunity at all for him to continue his Tamil education and many libraries in secondary schools do not even have Tamil books on their shelves.

Poor condition of POL classes

The only option for the enthusiastic Tamil school student to continue with his Tamil education is to attend the POL (People’s Own Language) classes. Again most secondary schools nowadays do not provide POL classes efficiently and even if provided the poor condition of POL classes at our secondary schools are well known and needs no further explanation.

Even if the POL classes are properly conducted by a qualified teacher, Tamil school students are grouped together with those coming from national schools and because of the imbalances in proficiency, Tamil school students are unable to improve their Tamil language by attending POL classes.

In conclusion, by attending a POL class, a Tamil school student doesn’t acquire anything more than what he had already acquired through his Tamil school education.

With all these obstacles, Tamil school students, through the support of family members and Indian NGOs providing Tamil tuition, go on to take Tamil as a subject at the SRP level and later at the SPM or STPM levels.

However, it is only at the SPM level, the student is given a choice of two subjects in Tamil, one in Tamil language and the other in Tamil literature. It is only at the SPM Tamil literature level that a student is given a taste of the rich Tamil literature through a proper examination syllabus. Therefore Tamil literature at the SPM level becomes important to a student who intends to further his knowledge and education in Tamil.

A survey would show that most students who take Tamil literature at the SPM level also end up taking Tamil at the STPM level. At the STPM level, there is only one subject in Tamil but it also covers the literature component. Therefore it can be seen that SPM Tamil literature is also a training ground, providing the confidence to students to take Tamil at the STPM level.

It is students who take up Tamil at the STPM level who end up filling up the Indian quota in Malaysian public universities since most of them get good grades in Tamil at the STPM level which helps them increase their CGPA grading thereby landing them a place in a public university.

Fall and rise of SPM Tamil literature

Even though they are interested, many Tamil school students have been avoiding taking Tamil literature at the SPM level because they feel it is a tough subject to score and takes up a lot of time of study because of the literature content. It is also an additional burden to them if they are already taking nine or 10 subjects including Tamil language. Most Tamil school students who opt for science stream do not take Tamil literature because of the heavy load of content in science subjects.

Many parents also do not encourage their children to take Tamil literature at the SPM level as they feel taking one subject in Tamil is more than enough. By the time a student reaches SPM, the parents also become confused as to what extent they should give priority and importance to Tamil as a subject even though their love for the language is unquestionable. The general feeling is that concentrating on other core subjects and scoring a good overall grade is more important than concentrating on Tamil language or Tamil literature.

Another reason students avoid Tamil literature is that there are not enough study materials to assist them. It is also difficult to get someone qualified to teach you on the subject. Therefore there is a vast difference in the number of students taking Tamil language and Tamil literature at the SPM level.

Coupled with these and many other reasons, it is not a surprise that in 1998 the number of students taking Tamil literature dipped to a mere 300 or so. When there were indications that the subject may be scrapped completely from the SPM list due to lack of students taking it, the Indian community sprang into action.

Many Indian NGOs and Tamil enthusiasts encouraged students to take Tamil literature and some Tamil scholars came forward to provide tuition for these students without any consideration for remuneration. Study materials were also prepared by qualified teachers to assist the students. Parents were also coaxed into encouraging their children to  take Tamil literature as a subject to further the student’s knowledge and in the process, to preserve the subject at the SPM level.

With all the efforts put together, the number of students taking Tamil literature soared to more than 4,000 by the year 2008, a remarkable achievement indeed.

It is this particular aspect that the Indian community is irked and irritated about. When the number of students taking Tamil literature was dwindling, the Education Ministry and in fact even MIC leaders did not do much to improve the situation. It was the Indian NGOs and Tamil enthusiasts who in their own capacity took it upon themselves to increase the number of students taking Tamil literature without any political or government assistance .

But when their efforts are bearing fruits now, just with a stroke of the pen, the ministry and in particular, the education minister, are killing the spirit and enthusiasm of Indian students who are eager to take Tamil literature despite all the obstacles.

Merge Tamil language and literature

The time has also come for the Indian community to rethink about the subject in the context of changing educational needs of the student. We need to apply rational thinking, taking into consideration the modern trends in education together with the burden for the student to be torn between Tamil language and Tamil literature.

One of the best solutions to overcome the current impasse would be to merge Tamil language and Tamil literature into one paper at the SPM level.

With this change, most of the students wishing to take Tamil at the SPM level would be able to take the subject within the ‘maximum 10 subjects’. Furthermore, if the student wants to take Tamil outside the maximum 10 subjects then the student should be allowed to drop Moral studies (which is compulsory now) in order to take the Tamil paper.

This means that Moral studies subject would become optional for those students willing to take Tamil and compulsory for those not taking Tamil. The Education Ministry should appreciate that it is more important for the student to take his own mother tongue rather than moral studies.

The ministry should also appreciate that Tamil literature whether modern or classical, have one of the highest moral values in their subject content. Classical literatures such as ‘Aathi Choodi’ and ‘Naladiar’ are in fact highly regarded texts on moral values. Let us not forget ‘Thirukkural’ which has been translated into so many languages and today stands tall as the epitome of all moral values a piece of literature can offer.

Even modern literatures by Tamil scholars like Mu.Varatharasan have always been appreciated for promoting moral values and some of his works have been included in our Tamil syllabus at the SPM and STPM levels.

All such books and other Tamil literatures put together would be able to convey the moral values much more effectively to a student than what the ministry intends to provide through their Moral studies paper. Therefore, by having only one Tamil paper at the SPM level and by making Moral studies optional, the current impasse could be overcome easily.

The Indian community should also appreciate that Tamil Literature in this country had been preserved and taken to the next level by Tamil writers and poets who enriched the local Tamil literature through their writings and contributions.

Many of our most notable Tamil writers and poets did not enhance their language skills by taking Tamil literature at SPM or STPM levels. All their basic interest and knowledge in Tamil language came from their Tamil school education. Therefore Tamil literature in this country would evolve by itself and would remain forever in this country through the enthusiasm of many writers as long as there is Tamil school education. It doesn’t matter whether there is Tamil literature at SPM level or not.

Therefore the emphasis should be on Tamil education at Tamil schools and not on Tamil literature at SPM level.

R Mutharasan is an observer and writer on Malaysian politics and Indian issues. He is the web-master of www.indiantoday.net and has also authored the book “Winning Strategies of Anwar Ibrahim”.

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Info on police investigation, rights and bail

/* December 17th, 2009 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments »
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Bookmark this category
Useful information on police investigation procedure and rights of citizens. Received via email.

 

Police Investigation
 
      
WHEN DOES INVESTIGATION BEGIN?

Investigation begins the moment you are arrested and before a charge is brought against you, in order to determine if there is any or enough evidence which can sustain the charge.

WILL YOU BE ARRESTED OR DETAINED DURING INVESTIGATION?

Any person who has been accused or connected with or suspected of committing an offence may be arrested by police. Where a seizable offence e.g. murder, robbery or theft is suspected to have been committed, a police officer may arrest the offender with or without warrant or order from the Public Prosecutor in the course of investigation.

After your arrest, you cannot be kept indefinitely in police custody pending police investigation. You must be brought before a Magistrate within 24 hours of the arrest or where the police need more time for their investigation, they must produce you before a Magistrate to request permission to detain you further for a term not exceeding 15 days in a whole.

Where further detention is unnecessary, you may be released on bail to ensure your appearance in Court at an appointed date. Bail, however, is not available in certain cases e.g. if you are charged with murder or drugs trafficking.

The police may also detain you up to 60 days on suspicion upon Ministerial satisfaction that you may be subject fit and proper to be detained under the authority of the Minister for up to usually 2 years each time. This is known as preventive detention. The laws that allow for prevention detention are the Internal Security Act, 1960, the Dangerous Drugs (Special Preventive Measures) Act 1985 and the Emergency (Public Order and Prevention of Crime) Ordinance, 1969.

ARE YOU OBLIGED TO ANSWER POLICE QUESTIONS?

Where you have not be been arrested but only called by the police for questioning, you are bound to state the truth and answer all questions put to you by the police investigating officers except those which have a tendency to expose you to a criminal charge, penalty or forfeiture (right from self-incrimination). Before recording your statement the police officer will have to explain to you your right from self-incrimination.

WHAT SEARCH POWERS DO THE POLICE HAVE?

Persons having the power to arrest may search any place entered by the person sought to be arrested and may effect an entrance by force if refused entry. An arrested person may be searched and any articles found which are reasonably believed to be evidence of the crime may be detained until his release. Any offensive weapon found on the arrested person may be seized. A person in lawful custody who is unable to give a reasonable account of himself due to incapacity may be searched to ascertain his name and address.

FOR HOW LONG CAN A PERSON REMAIN IN POLICE CUSTODY?

A police officer who has taken a person into police custody must be brought before a Magistrate without unnecessary delay. Police detention of the arrested person must not exceed 24 hours (excluding the time taken for the journey from the place of arrest to the Magistrate Court) unless a remand order had earlier been obtained. Any violence used by a police officer to a person in his custody is a punishable offence. Any person who escapes from lawful custody may be pursued and arrested by the person from whose custody he fled.

 
Bail    

Basically there are two types of bail –

(i) police bail; and

(ii) court bail.

Police bail is granted when investigation cannot be completed. Instead of detaining the suspect longer, police bail is granted to ensure that the suspect will appear at the police station and report to the investigation officer at the appointed time. Usually, police bail takes the form of a bond by the surety without securities being furnished.

On the other hand, court bail means the release of a person from custody of the detaining authorities upon security being given for his appearance in Court on an appointed date.

Whether court bail will be granted would depend on the nature of the offence. For purpose of bail, offences are classified under (i) bailable (ii) non-bailable and (iii) unbailable offences. A bailable offence means bail has to be offered as of right. The court has no choice but to offer bail. Non-bailable means the court has a discretion to grant bail and when an offence is described as unbailable, no bail will be offered. Examples of bailable offences are voluntarily causing hurt, cheating and defamation. Examples of non-bailable offences are rape, theft, infanticide and causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means. For penal code offences, a complete list of bailable and non-bailable offences is found at column 5 of the First Schedule of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Bail will not be granted in unbailable offences. These are offences punishable with death or life imprisonment for instance drugs trafficking, murder, or kidnapping punishable under the Kidnapping Act.

However, there are exceptions and bail may be offered for any person under the age of 16 years or any woman or any sick or infirmed person accused of such of offence.

Conditions may be imposed in granting bail (only in respect of non-bailable offence) such as requiring the accused person to surrender his passport. Failure to comply with the condition imposed may result in an accused person being remanded until trial.

The purpose of bail is not to punish the accused person but to merely secure his attendance in Court on a given date. Thus the Court will normally take into account the following factors in deciding whether bail ought to be granted: –

• The nature of the offence with which he is charged;
• The apparent possibility of conviction;
• The likely sentence;
• His family lives and relationship within the community in which he lives;
• His previous criminal record (if any);

• His reputation, employment status and monetary conditions

A bail once granted may however be revoked if there is clear evidence that the accused person is interfering with the course of justice for example the destruction of evidence or tampering of witnesses.

Regards,

Sanjeev
National Chairman,
Police Affairs & Rehabilitation Bureau
Unity & Community Development Committee
Malaysian Indian Congress.

__._,_.__

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UN 1965 International Convention of Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

/* December 16th, 2009 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments »
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Interesting to know that our country has not signed nor ratified this particular convention. No prizes for guessing the reason, which makes it difficult to implement the convention in our laws and legislations.  As mentioned below, countries like Thailand and Laos are moving ahead in this matter.

The government must decide on its priorities with regards to inking the 1965 International Convention of Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).

United Nations resident coordinator in Malaysia Kamal Maholtra said the government needs to decide internally and solve its constitutional contradiction before signing any UN convention.

“Apart from Article 153, there is a clause that provides for the equality and freedom to its citizens, therefore the government needs to decide on its priorities,” he told a press conference at the sidelines of a seminar in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Kamal was asked if the signing of ICERD will contradict with section 153 of the federal constitution which guarantees the special privileges of the bumiputera.

Nevertheless, he said the government is in fact looking into other aspects of the six conventions recommended by the UN which has not been signed by Malaysia.

In his speech earlier, Kamal disclosed that the government has only signed three and ratified two of the nine core international human rights treaties.

Malaysia has only signed and ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (Cedaw) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Both were signed with reservations in 1995.

“In addition, Malaysia has also signed but not yet ratified the 2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,” Kamal said.

On the issue of sustaining human rights, the UN coordinator is of the view that a strong culture must be embedded within Malaysians and this should start with young children.

“Human rights education should also be a continuous effort and it would be best if the education curriculum entrenches human rights issues as well,” he said.

Meanwhile, UN human rights officer Pablo Espiniella explained that some governments have reservations to sign and ratify conventions because of the fear that they cannot fulfil the requirements and therefore have to face international repercussions.

“The process is as such where after the government has signed and ratified any convention, there should be moves and efforts to assimilate these principles into local laws and legislation,” he said.

However, he said, the UN will hold dialogues, provide support and expertise to the government to implement the principles of the conventions once they are recognised.

Pablo also said that with Thailand signing seven out of the nine human rights conventions and Laos closely catching up, he hopes that this momentum will encourage the Malaysian government to do the same.

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NGOs as tools for politics

/* December 16th, 2009 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments »
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Below is information from an unidentified source from MIC, if we are to believe the news by MK.  While its true that many NGOs are sprouting, especially after Nov 2007 and March 2008, I don’t all are as alleged by the source, funded or aligned to the opposition. And if they are, they should clarify which party/leaders fund them. This must also apply to MIC since it also has some “friendly” NGOs aligned to it. You can’t have two sets of rules, can you?

I don’t agree with the campaign for 12 subjects for SPM being tool for opposition. I think if such protests and outbursts were not done, MIC would have been quiet and let the issue fade away. As it is, the problem is still not solved, what more if no one made some noise.

This problem is not limited to Indian parties only. The other parties also have NGOs aligned to them, ready to make noise when needed.

As for me, I think in name of fairness, NGOs office bearer must not be members of any political party. Then we can see how many are actually sincere in community service. And nope, I’m not a member of any political party, nor interested to join any one of them.

Some opposition political parties are using certain Indian NGOs to do their work of opposing or questioning decisions of the government concerning the Indian community, an MIC source said, adding that the party has devised a strategy to counter this.

The source said that of late, several small Indian NGOs have mushroomed, though not registered, and were being backed “silently and financially” by certain Indian opposition figures, including elected representatives.

“They (the NGOs) are being used to instill hatred among certain sections of the Indian community towards the government and BN while the opposition takes a back seat,” it said.

The source cited the Education Ministry’s ruling to cap to 10 the subjects for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination and said a few people calling themselves “Save the 12 SPM Subjects Committee” have inflamed the issue and created confusion as well as hatred towards the government.

It said the opposition realised that there has been “a change of heart” among the Indian community towards the BN since the last general election after several initiatives announced for them by Prime Minister Najib Razak, including a RM100 million allocation for the edevelopment of Tamil schools.

“There is now a swing to the BN by the Indians and the only way for the opposition to reignite their hatred for the BN was to use these NGOs as decoys or a tool.

“They (the opposition) will feed information to these NGOs and finance their activities, including organising forums and protests in community halls and hotels,” the source said.

It said the MIC has been monitoring the activities and the NGO leaders’ background.

“Some of the NGO leaders are members or hold posts in opposition parties but they do not reveal their identities,” it said.

The source said the MIC was mobilising many of its “friendly” Indian NGOs to counter the opposition’s strategy although he admitted that it was “a bit difficult to identify the rogue NGOs”.

“Meetings will be held behind closed doors with these MIC-friendly NGOs soon,” it said, adding that the move was crucial to maintain Indian support for the BN, especially in the next general election.

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