blog thoughts on cops
When I read that Aiz is recommending bloggers to speak up regarding this, I don’t know about you but I felt a dire sense of helplessness. After all, what is there to be said when almost all has been said?
When I was 18 years old, sure I would feel the outright rage that would move me to write to newspapers and such. This is Malaysia! We are a good country! This sort of thing must be an isolated case and cannot be continued! Clearly someone isn’t looking after his boys! Oh hear me ye leaders for I am part of the younger generation that would shape this country to its bright and shining future, sans corruption, sans cronyism, sans every single factor that is making us cry foul.
I am 24 years old, and I realise that we are all part of this problem. We all contributed to it. From the little RM5 bribes to the RM5,000 bribes, of why someone ended up in the police force, the living conditions, environment and whatever little pay our local cops are living in and receiving, our lackadaisical attitude in regards to the law, their lackadaisical in regards to our rights; when I say everyone is part of the problem I mean absolutely everyone, from the utmost top to the lowest bottom. We are all just trying to earn a living, to survive, to get on with our lives. But where does the buck stops?
It feels like being bound in chains with no hope of ever escaping. When something of this magnitude is in cycle, how can one single person ever hope to change the world?
A friend who was in San Francisco for a conference had to stay in the ghetto area due to financial constraints. Once she had to walk back to her motel after midnight and it was like something out of thriller movies, the lonely street, dim lights and all. A patrol car pulled up beside her and after verifying who she was (ie non-resident here for a conference), told her that it was not a very safe area especially at this time of the night, then escorted her all the way back to her motel. As non-suspects were not allowed in the patrol car, they drove slowly behind her as she walked.
Talk about cops protection eh? For some reason I cannot envision this happening in Malaysia. Perhaps it has been done before, perhaps I need to get out more and experience this for myself to know it can be done, but perhaps my faith in our law enforcers is not all that strong to begin with. With all the stories I’ve heard, can you blame me?
Driving without seat belts on, driving over the speed limit, running a red light, driving in a highly intoxicated state, if caught then frankly speaking you deserve it. When a police officer pulled my friend over and found out that she’d drank some, it was no one’s fault but hers. When he told her that she was pretty and to escape a summons she could ‘makan’ him, where is the line? It doesn’t really help when a lawyer once told me that if the policeman ask you to suck his cock, you suck his cock. Because at the end of the day, the power is not with you. Your citizenship does not entail you with a voice of your own. If you end up with a police record because you refuse to give a bribe or go down on someone, well sorry to say but there is nothing you can do. Yours is just one case out of thousands.
I’ll refer all these as the old ways. For all the sense of helplessness and hopelessness, there is bleak optimism. For maybe 20 ‘bad’ cops there is one ‘good’ cop. I have met my fair share of ‘good’ cops, I lived next to one for a few years when I was growing up, my sister’s friend’s dad is an exemplary brave and fair cop and I truly appreciate them. It is just a shame that the ‘bad’ cops overshadow the ‘good’ cops by sheer numbers.
Do we really need the media to run a news, or for Datuk Seri Nazri to speak up regarding one case before change can be implemented?
These are just some blog thoughts from one single person, because I have no mouth and I must scream.
Tags: malaysia, pdrm, police
I know this is sort of off topic but…
“Shaving accident???”
oh so mean
I love the new shots of you that you put up related to the blog topic. Nice idea.
sad to say that I’ve given up hope on the m’sian police force long time ago. i feel safer without them than with them to be honest, because it’s scary when you feel threatened by the people you thought you can trust but can’t.
In my whole life, I have never met a ‘good’ cop. They are either dripping with dirtyness or in the shades of grey.
In fact they are like devils whispering at the side of your ears. Especially when they want to you admit to crime you didn’t do.
I feel very, very sad.
It’s difficult to ward off corruption in Malaysia. Our beloved PM, Badawi has great plans ahead to nib corruption once and for all, but will he get all the necessary backing he needs from his Cabinet and Ministers?
We have to understand that to some, corruption is a source of income. Ripping off corruption completely would mean no incoming money. Possible aftermath - higher crime rates.
It’s unfortunate that the level of corruption in Malaysia has come to that extent. But then, it’s a fact. Deal with it.
S: It is rather scary. I think you have managed to convey the point of this post, that it is a sad state of affairs when you no longer feel safe with the people who are supposed to make you feel safer, at least at the basic of things. Like the child and the father who comes around at night.
Darryl: A corruption-free state is at most idealistic and one must accept the fact that it would never be realised, regardless of country. I have no qualms with that. A piece of candy to a crying child is a bribe, a small gift to appease an angry customer is a bribe, it is quite a way of life.
That said, corruption may be a source of income but it need not necessarily be so. I am aware of the benefits or lack thereof at a policeman’s end; we can spend so much money on modernising this and building that, but we can’t spare the money to improve their wages and living conditions so that they do NOT have to resort to accepting such bribes. But the root of the problem is elsewhere and I think it has more to do with attitude and education.
I don’t quite agree that we have to deal with the fact that our country’s level of corruption has come to this most sorry state. And because I do not agree with this sentiment, I blog about it for I have no other means to talk about it, nor am I in any other position to do something about it.
Are you certain that you want to live in a country where you as a citizen has no say at all when it comes to the law, or rather curved law? I am here, and I don’t.
The current generation has been brought up this way. What to do?
My opinion is actually all these stuff are linked back to our own government and the legal system. Most of the ppl gives bribe, guilty or not, becoz they rather pay than having to go through the friggin slow and ineffective court hearings as well as procedures.
Imagine all the time wasted queuing and waiting to pay your saman.. rediculous! Same goes with renew licence and road tax… To make it worse now government offices work only 5 days week.
Sucks.
Well written Suanie! Now we just have to wait to be arrested for slanderous writing and commenting!
It’s not their fault, they aren’t paid enough.
Pay the police enough, train them properly, make sure being a policeman is a career choice, not a last option…then bribery will die out.
theres a movie title ” The Untouchable “. it refer to the mobster name Al Capone, he is the untouchable bad guy in the US early 20th century. anyone ( good guys/ cops ) who try to touch (nab/put him behind bar) will be in trouble. it seems that in Malaysia “The Untouchable” has switch side. the police force becomes ” The touchable ” ! look at the 18yr old student who try to “touch” a police who bribe?? she is being sue for reporting to BPR (ACA). needless to say about the 4 chinese women who seek for justice…
i reckon the management on top is the problem. if the people on top aren’t doing things right, who’s gonna set an example for the people under them to do it right?
this is one issue that won’t get better by working their way up. it has to start at the top, not at the bottom.
spiller,
halo, not all government counters have long Q. go to Isetan sales, Metro sales, M&G sales….. they have longer Q….. heh??? these shoppers are willing to Q, strange… pay to Q…. and they open 7 days a week.
Saygore: Name me one government counter that do not have long Q (those that we will visit one la, don’t tell me counters we won’t visit)
Halo, Isetan is not government counter la. By the way, it’s MNG, not M&G
Hi Suanie,
I share the same thoughts with you.
I feel this in this few years, the level of corruption in Malaysia kept rising and rising. (or maybe I have been reading more and more)
The politics in Malaysia is corrupted too. No longer we live in a nation that is save, led by a government that cares.
I plan to migrate to Australia when I have the financial capability.
Malaysia is not the Malaysia I’ve known anymore.
who is going to protect us?
it is indeed disturbing for us to know that if we made a complaint against the police, one fine day, we may see the police at our doorstep, intimidating and bullying us for daring to complain. who is going to protect us then?
Hi Suanie,
“It doesn’t really help when a lawyer once told me that if the policeman ask you to suck his cock, you suck his cock.” - is it true or is the lawyer jesting?
Last week, my friend, a girl got lost on her way driving to Shah Alam looking for a friend. She saw a cop on a motorbike and ask for direction. The cop rode his bike and lead her to the house of the friend.
So, there is one good cop in Shah Alam too.
suan, jom MAKAN !
i second shaolintiger on this - proper and thorough training, and good a pay. from what i’ve seen, the police force are made up of upstarts, or perhaps kampung folk who are suddenly given this huge chunk of authority and responsibility. i once had an accident, and my visit to the police station to lodge a police report was terrifying, when it shouldn’t be, right? the guys were swaggering about like big bosses they wished they were, and rude oso. it was very scary to see.
mahagurusia: I hope not
Saygore & spiller: I go to British India so wouldn’t know anything about MsucksG
Dwayne: I think it’s the reading more and more part. When I was younger I didn’t really care about reading too much news, so maybe that could be the cause.
Maverick: I think he was half jesting, as the conversation was about another acquintance who was involved in a ‘police road block tug’. But the later part about having the police record and that being a black mark in your life forever, that was not in jest. I remember the main point of that conversation was not to be a hero, they can do what they want so give them what they want. It was a couple years ago.
I do believe there are good cops around. As I said, they do not seem to be in the majority who give the force such a black name that everyone gets pulled into it. In the end we have to try to recall the good deeds that the nice ones have done. Would be nice if it’s the other way round.
Paul: ask spongefox bleh
oops suan, sorry for mentioning MnG, its for slim girls only…… tell a true story. i have a friend who once happen to shop at isetan lot 10,he wander into MNG. he, is a HE…. saw a nice jean and went straight into the changing and try it. after he have put it on, he felt something is wrong.how come the jean’s cutting is so strange?! oh no ! he then realised is for female ! how ignorant he is, not knowing MNG is for female only, i mean slim females….i wonder how he could walk into the changing section without being stop by the shop keepers…
Saygore: lmao if you were just sharing the story, it’s pretty funny. if you were trying to sakitkan my hati, better luck next time
Let’s all admit that generally, employees are all underpaid for the amount of work and hours they need to put in to satisfy their bosses.
How much is enough, really?
It’s never enough in Asia, let alone Malaysia. We are not living in America, England or Australia, where standard of living is high, hence the high wages. We are deprived of the quality of life, where family time is top priority in the countries mentioned.
Over here, GENERALLY… money talks way louder than anything. Employers literally hang money in front of you like how you would do to a dog who does not behave.
Sibu(Sarawak) is a good example. My fren was wif her indon maid after cleaning up the office. The some police approached them and asked to see the maid’s passport. Didn’t bring? Police gives ‘that look’ and asked for ‘duit kopi’. WTF?
suan why did u need a wax job on ur mouth? u were growing mustache?
[deleted by Suanie]
la…. this is the same comment as : http://www.suanie.net/2005/11/16/errant-police-and-boycott-sony/#comment-4790
don’t have to repeat yourself twice, right?
had a fair share of good cop, bad cop.
bad cop - i was making an illegal turn and he was hinting that he would get me off if i pay him some duit kopi. told him just be quick with the summon, i’d rather pay to the force than to an individual.
and of course those who kept on harrassing for duit kopi from my indonesian collegues at site. my friends maybe not that educated but they’re 100% legal.
good cop - the one on the info-line who have been helping me and keeping me updated on the discount that the traffic police and introduced me to his friends so i could have it done fast without expecting anything.