19 January 01
CHIAROSCURO
MGG
Pillai
THE
POLICE HOLD A FIRE SALE
The Royal
Malaysian Police threatens, seethes, hectors, threatens with perdition if rules
are disobeyed and summonses unsettled. But often its bark cannot match its
bite. Worse, it does not even do what it is expected of it.
In what
it describes as a "show of goodwill", it has offered a "fire
sale" of traffic offenses. Its highly
publicised crackdown on
traffic summons defaulters ended in a whimper. It could not be sustained.
We
were then told the crackdown would continue "relentlessly" until all the
4.3 million motorists with
summons issued are "caught.
Now it takes
on the practice of shopkeers to perk up business with a "fire sale":
till the end of February, those who settle their summonses can do so at cut rates.
There would be no more extensions -- which means there would be -- and the police
takes another tack to make sure it is a
laughing stock.
No one asked why
millions of summonses were left to accumulate. Should not the police have
acted on them when it should have? Why did it not? Have those
responsible been punished for dereliction of duty?
But why is the maximum
for the offence imposed as a matter of course? When it is, there is room for
corruption. One can negotiate with the policeman issuing the summons and not get
it for a fee, usually half that of the maximum for the offence.
This is so
prevalent it is no more what would be petty corruption. It is a way of life.
If you want to drive on the road, you have to live with it. If penalties are
low, one will try to settle it. If not, and are unlikely to be found out,
none would pay.
This is the dilemma the police face to wipe the summonses
off the book. It is the police that brought this upon itself. As it
is, to the average Malaysian, the policeman is a figure of dread. The less
one has to do with him the better. The first word from the police when
advise is needed is to be told the relevant sections of the law which
provide for high penalties.
When it moves, the whole country knows of
it, the newspapers and the electronic media on hand to record its move. If
it is after criminals, enough noise is made to ensure no one is caught in the end.
When
it launches a campaign, a few unfortunates get caught in the net and is fined the
maximum possible, the public told to own up or face worse. And the campaign
is forgotten.
A murder is committed? The newspapers will second guess
each other to report every move for a few days, and everyone, including the
police, forgets everything about it.
The schoolgirl Audrey Mellisa was
murdered in a little-user pedestrial tunnel near her school in Kuala Lumpur a few
years ago. Has the murderer been caught? The Kedah state assemblyman
for Lunas, Dr Joe Fernandez, was murdered. It gave the National Front a
seismic shock, but
did the police go through with its promise to arrest the
murderer? How many murders remain unsolved? It is a fair guess most
are.
Whenever some drug dealers are caught, or some contraband is
discovered, the newspapers are quick to report he police claim that this
"kingpin" or that "syndicate" is crippled. But we hear
precious little of what happened to the fellows. If they are charged in
court, we hear precious
little of the proceedings, unless a high profile lawyer
is involved.
How is it that if these kingpins and syndicates are repeatedly
crippled, they seem to have a remarkable to be back in business within days of
their crippling?
The sad fact is, whatever the official spin, the Royal
Malaysian Police, like the other institutions of state, has lost its raison
d'etre. It does not investigate or initiate the routine police
investigations -- as any Malaysian who had had occasion to report a robbery or an
assault would tell you -- and then it is forgotten.
Someone knocked your
car? Be prepared to spend the next five or more hours, as I once had to, at
the police station waiting for a report to be filed. Since the other fellow
did not, and although I gave it the details, I was told no further action would be
taken. Not reporting a traffic accident is an offence. But the police
sergeant was adamant. But one must unfortunately report an accident if
one
wants to claim from his insurance company.
When the inspector-general
of police beats up the just detained former deputy prime minister to a pulp, he is
let off with a slap on his wrist. This encourages the policeman to do
likewise at those he arrests. The fish rots in the head first. And it
spread down. As it has.
What has the home minister to say to all
this? Precious little. Why has he not ordered an investigation at this
blatant refusal to collect penalties? What the police ensure in this
"fire sale" exercise is that it is all right to flout the law.
You
are given a ticket for parking illegally, which you do because there are not
enough car parks and the authorities do not look into this. There are few
places in Kuala Lumpur where tens of cars are parked illegally every hour of the
day. So long as the cars are removed before the twice-a-day grand entrance
of the traffic wardens, nothing would happen. Should you be caught, a few
dollars
discreetly pressed into their hands would make them go away.
If
the police want to be believed and trusted, more than a fire sale of traffic
summonses must ensue. It must revamp itself into what a police force should
be. For that, it must not threaten and already frightened citizen about to
caught in a Kafka-like world. It must reorient itself into a friend, not
enemy, of the people.
That cannot be in a day. Its copybook is
blotted after how it treats Anwar Ibrahim and his supporters. It is seen not
a police force of the people but of the establishment, out to harass and manhandle
any who disagrees with it. So long as that remains, even "fire
sales" would not help.
Ends
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