
After a few of my friends got thrown into Kamunting during Dr M's infamous Operation Lalang in October 1987, I became rather paranoid about the Malaysian police, especially the Special Branch or Malaysian secret police. Every time I heard a crackle or mysterious whir while talking on the phone I immediately suspected my line was tapped.

My clearest memory of the Mahathir era is how afraid people were to talk politics in public places. Every time the name "Mahathir" was mentioned, everyone would quickly look around to see if there were suspicious SB types in the vicinity. That was Dr M's greatest contribution to the nation - he turned it into a police state akin to East Germany during the Cold War period.
Talk to Dr Munawar Anees about this, if you think I exaggerate.
Don't point with cretinous pride at the KLCC Twin Towers or the colossal architecture of Putrajaya. Any tyrant with unlimited access to the public purse can build any number of monuments to their own pharaonic megalomania.

Anyway, I decided it was stupid to live in constant anxiety about the secret police. It's true the army and police ultimately exist to protect the privileged few from the wrath of the exploited multitudes whose toil and drudgery support the system; and so long as the masses remain asleep, the status quo remains unthreatened. However, the situation dramatically changes when a few leaders become enlightened and realize the unsustainability and inherent instability of any top-heavy feudalistic social hierarchy.

This simple game had far-reaching consequences. I began to relive my childhood fantasies of being an undercover cop (I had been deeply impressed as a 9-year old by the Hollywood glamorization of the FBI in a movie called The FBI Story, starring James Stewart).

As a teenager I relished a long-running series of vivid dreams in which I featured as a top-ranking Bond-style secret agent and death-defying commando, narrowly escaping the most harrowing situations and invariably getting to kiss the leading lady.

It's been some years since I played this little game, but I can snap into this mode of consciousness anytime I want. It allows me some insight into the mind of the secret policeman and an empathetic glimpse of the policeman's intrinsic humanity.
In any case, as I grew older I began to see through the façade of the power structure and realized that there was no government on earth worth killing and dying for - they were all fronts for an invisible network of demented and bedeviled plutocrats. If I were a true-life James Bond, I'd opt to join the rebel forces or drop out completely.
Around that period, I had an unexpected encounter with a Special Branch officer planted in the middle-class audience at a British Council screening of Terry Gilliam's cult classic, Brazil. As the lights went on after the show, my companion expressed a bit of confusion about the whole point of the movie. I told her it illustrated the stupidity of governments. As we filed out of the British Council (which was then located near Bukit Aman), a mild-mannered Indian gentleman tapped me on the shoulder and asked if he could have a quick word with me.

"Walls have ears," the SB guy said, which elicited a sermon from me about the questionable morality of serving an immoral government. I could sense that this guy was actually a decent bloke, just a bit jaded from having been a copper almost his entire life. He was due for retirement in a couple of years. Finally, the guy confessed to me that he was utterly demoralized by the dirty politics he had seen in the line of duty. "Sometimes I wish somebody would just press the red button and blow up the whole world. It's already too rotten to save!"

We parted with a friendly handshake but our little unscheduled chat left me with much food for thought. I could see myself in his predicament. A decent bloke stuck for years in an indecent job, carrying out stupid orders from superiors he had no real respect for. The only way he could deal with his disillusionment was to become a crusty old cynic.
Of course, he could have quit - like my friend Johnny Goh, a former SB officer who told me he was due for a promotion in 1998, but he felt so sickened by the manner in which the police were being used against Anwar Ibrahim, he decided to resign and start a stationery business. Not everyone has the wherewithal to begin anew after decades in a particular job.

I know that for every crooked cop in the PDRM, there must be at least 500 who are still straight; who still believe that the police ought to be a force for the public good, not a bunch of uniformed thugs serving a handful of white-collar gangsters. Indeed, there would be absolutely no way out of our present mess if there weren't ultimately a lot more honest citizens than criminals in our country.
Call me a perpetual fool, if you will, but I remain convinced that there will always be an inner core of decency to be found in any institution - even one that has been corrupted and twisted by years of despotic misrule. Most times, the decent chaps choose to earn their wages and keep a low profile, convinced it's beyond their power to reform their workplace, safer to simply serve out their time and collect a comfortable pension.

May I suggest you pause for a moment and look at the situation from a purely HUMAN perspective - forget about bangsa dan agama for a minute. I bet most of you have enough intelligence to know that sort of talk is complete hogwash anyway. Your big bosses aren't particularly religious people - they only believe in the unholy power that money buys - the money stolen from all of us.
You guys (and gals) are merely pawns in their evil game. Same as anybody else. Think on that, please, and act on what your heart prompts you to do.

Where Malaysia is headed (Part 4)
15 comments:
You are right - there are more decent people out there than you think. However, these decent people need to work to earn money to live, and fear has been instilled into them that if they are too outspoken against the powers that be their rice bowls will be dashed to the ground. But you can push a person so far and no more. I feel we are almost at that point where we say "Enough is enough. Let's go for broke! What have we got to lose anyway?" That seems to be our only hope.
Further from the Philippines, remember Nicolae & Elena Ceausescu of Romania & the fate that befell them? xxx
Antares, you write well my friend, full of wisdom and truth. I hope they (the decent ones in government service) take heed and initiate change, within themselves first and subsequently within their respective fraternity. The people's collective conciousness will steamroll this change anyway, only a matter of time. This has proven true throughout human history. Look at Manchu Piccu and we can see very clearly.
Shalom Admiral Tojo
I get 3 great legacies from my dad [ex-civil servant attached to the PDRM]: His politics against impractical assholes in power, a moral compass when facing them and the ability to tell great stories of the aftermath.
I get that retiring early in protest against a dick-headed boss in the pensions department was the best decision he had ever made. Seems the steamroll effect of losing your most senior, experienced and personable section head forced the idiot out not long after. Heard he had a stroke some years later.
Now, dad is a typical "Old Boy" in his work shed, giving Buddhist sermons and playing with the cats in his free time. Definitely a happier man in his current years.
So, for any SB monitoring this, do yourself a big favour and quit while ahead. The first step in doing the right thing is usually to stop what is felt as inherently wrong. Then the world really starts opening up.
Mahathir Mamak Kutty was a curse upon the people of Malaysia..the evil dictator at least set BolehLand backward by 22 years..
I really look forward to the day when Mahafiraun get jailed for his misdeeds during his primiership.
So far , Pinky Lips and Scum Gang are doing what they can to prevent Anwar from getting in for they know the consequences of death by hanging. We shud help Anmwar do it quick before he too is slayed , like many before him
Check this news from UK. Similar with Kugan case maybe.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20090417/tuk-g20-officer-quizzed-on-manslaughter-6323e80.html
G20 officer quizzed on manslaughter
A police officer suspended following the death of Ian Tomlinson during G20 protests has been questioned on suspicion of manslaughter, the Independent Police Complaints Commission has said.
He was questioned after a second post-mortem examination found that Mr Tomlinson died from an "abdominal haemorrhage" and not a heart attack as first thought.
James
Thanks a lot for the update. I actually find it interesting. The country is really nice. They're culturally rich, which is great.
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Thank you for sharing this. Since Philippines and Malaysia is culturally related I kind of understand what you feel.
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