Death camps & 'member kita'

TMI - Malaysian Bar calls for royal commission on mass grave, death camps

to our horror and shame

Revelation of the mass gravesites for murdered refugees or/and illegal migrants has been a HORROR story of unmitigated proportions. The blame has fallen on human traffickers but we need to probe further into this horrendous crime of inhumanity in our own backyard.

Members of involved authorities on both sides of the border, or even further, cannot escape complicity in the evil murders and subsequent attempts to conceal those despicable acts. The IGP has confirmed that the murdered were also tortured.

There could well be different levels of involvement by various parties in the crime but nonetheless it pains me to hear Minister Shahidan Kassim rushing forward with undue haste in an attempt to minimise, ameliorate and euphemise the involvement of Malaysian officials, well before any official investigation has been completed.

He said, rather preemptively and seemingly just a wee over hastily: “Many of them had small roles to play in allowing the syndicate to operate, but they did not know about the killings and torture. Now they must be having nightmares.”

TMI reported that remarkable minister was not able to explain how he came to such knowledge. Maybe he has a crystal ball or had consulted Raja Bomoh.

This lamentable behaviour has been a notable characteristic of Malaysians, indeed most Malaysians and not just that minister, an automatic blind over-hastiness to tribally defend "member kita" or ala the Chinese version of "don't break someone's rice bowl". 

They would dig in with their defence even when the situation was plainly indefensible. This irresponsible 'sickness' has been the reason for the non-transparency and non-accountability in our nation which have led to unmitigated corruption, cronyism and cow-tim-ness amidst our public institutions, for example, the police and civil service etc, and in our society.

When leaders of society and the authorities are involved, and they're frequently are and have been, we have a dysfunctional government.

For more, read:

(a) the Malay Mail Online's Group demands ‘white paper’ on money lost since Dr M’s time

(b) my post in Oct 2009 Why Ong Tee Keat is worth supporting and saving!

(c) my post in Aug 2009 UMNO prefers Ong Tee Keat out?