With the revelation that the ethnicity of the victim at the centre of the ‘Squatgate’ controversy is Malay, certain members of Umno have chosen to lash out against the opposition whistle-blowers, accusing them of putting Malaysia in a bad light.
As we all know, it was not the act of whistle-blowing that caused the media furore but the fact that damning evidence of humiliating Malaysian police procedure was presented to the world.
Given that the prime minister and the deputy prime minister have already highlighted the gravity of this incident, I see parallels between the contradictory statements of the accusers in Umno with the contradictory statements of the formerly obstinate Noh Omar.
Perhaps these dissenters too need to be made to understand that the issue here is not one of race, nationality or tourist dollars, but of personal dignity.
One might accuse the DAP of unnecessary dramatics, but there were those in the MCA who admitted receiving the same video but chose to take the low-key route by passing the evidence on to the police. I suppose we will never know what the outcome of that approach would have been.
What we do know is that the actions of Teresa Kok have resulted in a great deal of attention and culminated in a fast-tracked investigation of the standard practices of Malaysian police. It was undoubtedly the international dimension of this incident and the attendant implications that caused the Malaysian government to take the matter so seriously.
In a sense, Teresa has achieved what many hard-working lawyers and activists have been struggling to do. She can only be applauded for doing all Malaysians a great service.
We can only hope that this investigation starts the ball rolling by demonstrating to the Malaysian government the urgent need to establish recommendations made by the first royal police commission in their report released over six months ago. |
NEWS
