Rebuilding Malaysia

While millions of Chinese in Malaysia are celebrating family ties amidst good food, mandarin oranges and red ang pows, an Indian family mourns the untimely death of a man in police custody. Kugan was buried today at Puchong, rather than the traditional Indian custom of cremation.

There were a few demonstrators at the UMMC mortuary shouting "Polis pembunuh! (police murderers)"

The deputy IGP tells us to wait for the second post-mortem report. In the mean time, there have been calls for an independent probe into Kugan's death. After all, it is utterly fallacious to have police investigate crimes allegedly done by the police. Even MIC seem very passionate in digging for the truth, with Samy Vellu commenting that Kugan's death had tarnished BN's name. Yet, would they have been equally passionate if it had been a Chinese, or a Malay who had died?

Justice needs to be seen to be done. If the Government brushes this under the carpet, they should all be stripped from their posts and sent to the streets to beg. A proper independent investigation should be conducted so that the ones responsible for Kugan's death will answer for their crimes. If Pak Lah is really serious about wiping out corruption before he leaves, then this is his chance to take the straight but narrow path. Piss off the top officials and expose the festering wound in the police force, so that justice is served.

Is Pak Lah up to the challenge? If he isn't, then it is up to the rakyat to ensure that justice is served. This is not an Indian issue. It is a basic human rights issue. Someone was murdered during police custody. We should not close a blind eye to this incident just because we are not of the same ethnicity and background, or just because we are not his family. This may never happen to us. The implications of Kugan's case are tremendous; if indeed the police were responsible for his death, it only reveals how much work we have to do to clean up this country.

If Obama can speak of rebuilding America, let us begin to rebuild Malaysia as well - starting with her police force. After all, the police are the law enforcers, the guardians of the nation. If we cannot trust them to safeguard our nation, we're screwed.