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Tuesday 13 April 2010

Do you believe Porntip or Nazri/Najib? / Details of Kugan's torture

By Nathaniel Tan,

Firstly, thanks to Tian for bringing up the confiscations of Where is Justice and 1FunnyMalaysia in Parliament. Hishamuddin’s answer was, as usual, lame:
“It is the duty of the police to ensure that publications do not incite anger among the public or threaten national security,” he said in his written reply to Tian Chua (PKR-Batu) in Parliament on Thursday.
As I have repeated ad naseum, that which angers the public and threatens national security is not books that contain only facts and fair opinions, but authorities under whose care detainees die brutal deaths.
(ps- if you haven’t yet, have a look at this kind review of Where is Justice, by Hookedonbookz. Me and John found it very encouraging. Do pick up a copy if you haven’t – some bookshops may be carrying it)
Some late notes on the Kugan trial. Now it seems there wasn’t even a recorded presence of the single cop charged with causing Kugan’s death. Other testimony however, revealed more shocking details:
“The deceased’s injuries could have been inflicted by only one person in a position where he was being held by another to keep him still,” said pathology and forensic expert Abdul Karim Tajuddin. He said this when defence counsel PM Nagarajan requested a demonstration to show Kugan’s position when he was assaulted and inflicted with such grievous hurt.
According to Abdul Karim, the first was when Kugan was chained in a squatting position, via a chain handcuff, and held by two people with another assaulting him in front. The second involved using a normal handcuff in front and a piece of wood placed between Kugan’s legs while he was sitting on the floor, to restrict his movement, he added.
Abdul Karim, 61, who is attached to Serdang Hospital’s forensic medicine division, said both positions could have caused grievous hurt on Kugan as there was no way he could avoid being hit.
Are we so sure that this wouldn’t happen to one of our loved ones one day? Do we reckon it only happens to lowly car thief suspects?
I think the family of Teoh Beng Hock would disagree.
Some words must be said on the recent issue surrounding Dr. Porntip.
Accusations that she is afraid to return to Malaysia because she cannot substantiate her claims are clearly ridiculous. Dr. Porntip has a near impeccable record of integrity and commitment to justice.
In my view, her reluctance to come (we all still hope she may make an appearance yet) can only speak of considerable political pressure. Using the threat of making Dr. Porntip’s work in Southern Thailand more difficult should she come back and testify can only be described as most despicable blackmail – to trade in justice as if it were some commodity to be bought and sold.
I don’t think Nazri’s resort to his usual frothing-at-the-mouth, childish name-calling requires much response.
We all know Dr. Porntip’s findings have the ability to completely sink the Najib administration, starting with Hulu Selangor. A simple question to you is: if you were Najib, wouldn’t you exert all the pressure you possibly could to stop her from testifying?
We can either believe that, or believe that this one woman who has risked so much for the truth throughout her career ’suddenly’ got cold feet.
If Dr. Porntip is not at the very least allowed to give testimony via video, I think the answer to “Where is Justice?” will be quite simple: flushed down some forgotten toilet.

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