Nuraina A Samad's 3540 Jalan Sudin

This must be the wettest Eid I have ever experienced!
Since the first of Syawal, it has been wet, wet, wet. Not a day passes without rain. And the rain has been torrential, no less.

So, how has your Raya been?

We've had some good and bad news, haven't we? Rather, Eid began on a tragic note with news of a ferry, Seagull Express 2, that caught fire and sank when cruising from Mersing to Tioman Island with 106 holidaymakers on on Oct 13.

To date, the official death toll stands at seven. So many passengers were injured.
I am glad that 14 passengers of the ill-fated ferry have decided to sue the ferry operator and other relevant parties for the tragedy.

We all know how tidak-apa most ferry or boat operators are. They don't take safety concerns seriously.
How can we condone such cavalier attitude?
Let's hope that enforcement will be stepped up following this.

Then, on Oct 20, another horrific news greeted us.
Actually, it greeted Nina who cried, shrieked, screamed before dropping the newspaper as though it was a disgusting object.
We were at Azah's house en route to the USJ cemetery to visit Kak Eda's grave. We could not visit Kak Eda's grave on the first of Syawal.

"Oh no! Oh God! Ya Allah!Why, why?", Nina cried.
We were all taken aback. Dropped whatever we were doing and shifted our attention to her.
Nina looked so disturbed.

Kak Ton picked up the paper and saw the headline: "Newborn Flung From...". Kak Ton was equally shocked. And there was a photo - a long shot - that showed what we had made out to be the baby's legs sticking out from under the covers.
The story was of a newborn who was found dead after it was flung from a high-rise building in Air Itam, Penang. The baby was stuffed in a plastic bag.
A post-mortem revealed that all the bones in the baby boy’s body were broken.
Police also found a piece of nylon cloth around the neck.

What can you say to that kind of news?

Ok...the good news. At least, I think that it's good. I'm glad for Abdul Malek Hussin who was awarded RM2.5m in damages by the High Court for having been unlawfully arrested, detained and beaten up while in police custody in 1998.
This is indeed an unprecedented move.
High Court Judge Hishamudin Mohd Yunus granted the award after ruling that Abdul Malek had succeeded in suing former Inspector-General of Police Abdul Rahim Noor, a police officer and the Government for the misdeeds done to him during his detention under the Internal Security Act.

“The behaviour of the defendants is inhumane, cruel and despicable, as the plaintiff was not just arrested and detained unlawfully for 57 days but was also subjected to a vile assault, unspeakable humiliation, prolonged physical and mental ill-treatment,” the judge said in his judgment on Thursday, Oct 18.

Hishamudin said that the arrest and detention were unlawful because Abdul Malek was not told of what he had done or intended to do that would pose a threat to national security.

Now, I wish I had known then in 1976 what I know now -- that it is possible to sue the government and the police for detention that is deemed unlawful.

We never tried to take the government to court because we never knew we could or that that was even an option.

Well....another piece of good news -- Malaysia's first astronaut Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor landed safely back in Kazakhstan yesterday (Sunday) with two Russian cosmonauts after spending 11 days in space.
I know that there have been criticisms about Dr Sheikh's space travel but I'm sure we are all so glad that he is safely back on earth.