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Friday, December 16, 2005

Squatgate - Expert Advice?

The Squatgate Commission obtained two expert advice that made me wonder what’s going on?

First and most strangely, it sought the the opinion of a religious official on the appropriateness of police conducting naked ear squats of detainess. Since when has a religious official become an expert on such matters?

Then came the vexing question. We have been informed by the police that the objective of squatting has been only to expose any hidden items in the detainee's body crevices. If so, the burning question is why make the poor detainee hold on to her ears, if not to humiliate her?

To that, the commission had a doctor advising by doing so, it would improve the balance of the person performing the squatting exercise. How thoughtful of the police.

But every school student in Malaysia and around the world would tell you the best posture to enhance balance during a squat is to stretch one's arms out horizontally, in front or to the side of the body, and certainly not the exact opposite of keeping those arms close to the body as would be the case when hanging on to the ears. Or, why not ask the tightrope walker how he balances himself best when walking on the wire? Perhaps we can even answer the question ourselves by observing our natural reaction when we attempt to balance on a very narrow plank.

Perhaps the doctor missed mentioning that holding the ear lobes might stimulate the vestibular system, put the brain into Zen-like meditation and encourage the body apertures to cooperate.

We would also like to know how far true has been lawyer Sankara Nair's comment that the commission had relied only on information provided by the police? Nair is the legal counsel for the 5 Chinese women (also Chinese nationals) who had lodged complaints against police abuses experienced by them.

Nair sought to present his clients’ complaints to the Independent Inquiry on the Squatgate scandal, but the commission refused to allow that because its terms of reference didn’t permit the inquiry to go beyond identifying and investigating the case of the woman doing the naked ear squats, caught in a video clip.

Woman identified. Case closed!

1 comment:

  1. Or instead of holding the ears, they can put the arms on hips, or even cross it in front of them to protect their naked breasts!

    Yes I agree, the focus on the commission should be on establishing new standards and holding the guilty parties responsible. Yet they are only focusing on the victim's identity and who took the video!

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