MAY 13 is a scar on Malaysian history and for some, the memories are especially painful. For a young man called Kush, May 13 evokes more poignant horrors.
Two months ago, on 13 May, Kush’s father, Ranjit, a retired TNB man, returned from his part-time work, had his tea and went for his preprandial stroll.
Minutes later, a neighbour found Ranjit lying beside the road and was rushed to hospital. Ranjit whispered, "Someone beat me." Then, he lost consciousness and died an hour later. The cause of death was excessive blood loss from a deep slash wound, which split the skull.
Both the family and the neighbour who found him made police reports and awaited the forensic team to visit the murder scene.
But no one came.
Later, one neighbour recalled that a car had pulled-up that evening and waited by the road. Three, possibly four men were spotted in the car with tinted windows.
Ranjit was the part-time Human Resources manager at a private firm and had recently sacked three workers. But Kush is confident his father had no known enemies: “I am close to father. He was good-natured and not provocative.”
In the past, Ranjit had helped former residents of Pulau Carey regain possession of land which the government had allocated them, in Banting. These owners could neither read nor write and either inadvertently signed over their property, or ‘lost’ their land because of forged documents.
A few properties had already been returned to their rightful owners. Other owners of lots that were built-on, engaged a lawyer and were about to take legal action, when Ranjit was slashed.
At the funeral, someone revealed that Ranjit had received a phone call from a former member of the land ‘exco’ and they had argued about the land issue.
Their former MP (name supplied) was aware of the land dilemma and the related issues.
Kush has made some serious allegations: One policeman said that his father’s injury bore the signature of ‘hired killers’; He was also told his father was probably the victim of ‘silap orang’ or ‘mistaken identity’; There was insufficient evidence for any arrest.
Two months after this tragedy, the police have yet to complete an incident report or make any follow-up. They claim there have been no leads and little information was forthcoming.
Kush’s mother, who lost her husband of over 40 years, is now a bumbling, confused wreck. The trauma has affected her health.
The family is disappointed with the lack of police action.
Other family members, close friends and associates were not interviewed to establish possible motives. None of the possible leads were pursued – the sacked workers, the waiting car, the altercation with the ‘exco’ and the legal action over the land dispute.
Why did the police allege that the wound bore the marks of a hired killer? Is this ‘signature wound’ very common? If his father was allegedly a victim of a mistaken identity, why are there no attempts to bring the killer(s) to justice? Why wasn’t a forensic team dispatched to the crime scene? Why was there no appeal for witnesses? Why weren’t the other neighbours interviewed?
Kush’s family has difficulty coping with their bereavement. To add insult to injury, they are now victims of another insensitive act. The hospital which conducted the post-mortem examination has billed them RM1,000l for the final post-mortem examination report.
In recent months, high-ranking policemen (Inspector General of Police Musa Hassan, in March; Shah Alam police chief Assistant Commissioner Noor Azam Jamaludin, April) reported a reduction in the national crime index.
In April and May, both Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Idris Jala praised the ‘outstanding’ achievements of the police. Hishamuddin said, “The crime index has been reduced by 15.3% and street crimes dropped by 38.7% over the first four months, compared with the same period last year”. Jala reiterated that police effort was beyond expectations. He said, “This is a phenomenal reduction in crime rate”.
It comes as little surprise that Ministers and the police dish out statistics like we scatter cornmeal for the chickens. We may be naïve but we are not gullible.
Are these statistics verified by an independent body so that data manipulation is reduced?
How is the crime index calculated? If property crime is grouped with violent crime, a misleading figure of true crime emerges. How is violent crime defined? How fast is it growing? What percentage of violent criminals is convicted? What are the re-offending rates?
Official statistics on crime and criminals also depend on the diligence and accuracy of the different branches of the criminal justice system, as well as the limitations and bias of each branch of the police. If an offence is reported to the police, they exercise discretion when deciding if to include it in official statistics.
Moreover, the police have been accused of the ‘VIP factor’. On July 5, the police responded immediately, to Pahang youth and sports committee chairman Wan Adnan Wan Mamat’s call. The police shot dead 4 of the 5 robbers. Luckily, the exco’s RM300,000 was saved!
How we all wish we were a VIP, or politician, with official clout to expect a swift police reaction and investigation. For most of us, the alternative of living in a gated community is beyond our reach.
Idris Jala wants the media to help reduce the crime worries of the public by highlighting the roles of the police and that of the Home Ministry in fighting crime. Maybe they should stop parading statistics which are neither convincing nor reassuring.
They are so arrogant that they assume we can be lulled into a false sense of security or be bullied into accepting statistics at face-value.
In 2004, a report in the police force showed that only 14% of the total reports made by the public were actually investigated by police.
Many victims of crime are disillusioned and have stopped making police reports. Hence, officially recorded criminality differs from real criminality.
It appears that the ministers and the police want to be taken seriously. So does Kush, but he feels that the police investigating his father’s murder are simply “makan-gaji” and are content to sit on the case.
* The views expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysian Mirror and/or its associates.
Footnote: This is a true story which happened on May 13, 2010. Kush and Ranjit are real people. Names have been changed to protect their privacy. Kush is still trying to seek justice.
