COMMENT | Indira Gandhi’s ex-husband continues to make fools out of PDRM

What do you mean by a win-win situation? If you have broken the law, there is no win for you. You lose! It is as simple as that.” 

- Former Court of Appeal judge Mah Weng Kwai

COMMENT | Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Abdul Hamid Bador’s comment that he is attempting to negotiate some sort of just resolution to a kidnapping case borders on contempt of court. Who is Hamid to interpret a court ruling in a way that he thinks best resolves a kidnapping issue?

Hamid claims that the case has been politicised but he acknowledges that he is communicating with politicians in various states asking them to get involved in a court order. This is not a divorce case. This is a case of kidnapping. The fact that politicians, the PDRM, and no doubt the religious apparatus are all enabling this felon is prima facie evidence that there is a conspiracy that the state desires to keep M Indira Gandhi’s child away from her.

Hamid claimed that he was trying to convince the kidnapper "that everything must be done in accordance with the court ruling, and he must not be selfish for the sake of the child’s future." – but what do you think the kidnapper thinks about this plea?

Muhammad Riduan Abdullah has successfully, with the aid of god knows who, evaded the PDRM for years, outfoxed four other IGPs, made the state security apparatus look like bungling, insipid keystone cops and of course now he has to deal with an IGP who thinks that he is some sort of marriage counsellor. He even outlasted a change in government which no doubt shows him that he is beyond the reach of any form of government.

Does anyone really think that this kidnapper is afraid of the long arm of the law? Does anyone really think that Riduan (above) is afraid of this IGP? Does anyone really think that this kidnapper is not basking in all the attention important politicians are giving him? More importantly, does anyone really think that someone like this kidnapper could do all of this on his own?

The fact that the state has not given relief to Indira is because this is a political issue. The fact that the IGP decides to interpret a court order so that the kidnapper would “get the benefit of some form of joint custody” is an obscene dereliction of his oath to carry out the law and protect the citizenry of this country.

We ask ourselves why people do not have faith in the security apparatus of this country, and the reasons are obvious. How can you have faith in a top cop, who makes such concessions to a kidnapper spinning this case as some sort of messy divorce, where, in the words of a former Court of Appeal judge –

“I am baffled because you have an order of the apex court of this country and the order was to the police to produce this person, and more so if you know where he is. “(But you) don’t produce him and start talking about negotiations. I just don’t understand the reasoning.” 

Is it the policy of the state security apparatus to negotiate with kidnappers? Honestly, if this is the SOP then they should acknowledge that henceforth anyone who kidnaps a child in Malaysia, the PDRM will negotiate with the perpetrators and they can get off scot-free.

The question I keep getting from people, is that why hasn’t this become a national issue? Why hasn’t this kidnapping achieved some sort of notoriety amongst the greater Malaysian population? Why does the IGP get to make such ludicrous propositions and the political system just keeps quiet?

When the IGP says that the issue has become “politicised” what he is drawing attention to is the fact that a Muslim man has unilaterally converted and then kidnapped his non-Muslim child. The non-Muslim part of the equation – the inconsequential aspect – while politically damaging to the establishment, does not entail the kind of fallout that would occur if the child is returned to her mother and then becomes the poster child of someone who had escaped “unilateral conversion” and then been returned to her non-Muslim mother.

How do you think this plays to the race and religion crowd? How do you think the political operatives whose currency is race and religion would be able to spin something like this? Indeed, as it is, the reality is that unilateral conversion is one of the first principles of the political operatives intent on creating an Islamic state here in Malaysia.

It would not surprise me, if there were enablers, who are average citizens, conspiring to keep this child within Islam. I do not think these people consider Riduan as some sort of religious martyr, but rather they believe that Indira’s daughter belongs to them and their faith. It pains me to say this, but Indira's daughter probably has been indoctrinated to believe the narrative of her captors instead of her mother.

There will be no “happy ending” to this story and neither will there be a win/win conclusion.

S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. A retired barrister-at-law, he hopes young people will assume the mantle of leadership if there is to be any hope for this country.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

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