Monday, October 22, 2007

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.

8 comments:

zaitgha said...

hi Nuraina,

yeah..its the wettest Eid as far as i remember, and agreed about the bad and the good news too. Personally i feel the bad news were more glaring than the good news though we had a Malaysian in outer space. the ferry tragedy to me really just made my blood boiled, the basic thing the license they chose to ignore what more the safety of the people...the baby thrown down from the apartment, i just dont have words to say, if you read or saw the news about the 7 year old boy stabbed to death by 15 year old boy...if we look at our sons about that age, can we ever imagine he can kill someone??...what a world are we in now i just wonder...and Nurin's killer(s) still out there ...

as for Dr. SMS, just the other night i was told that his parents are practically our neighbor he he...

Anonymous said...

Kak Ena,

There was another one. The father who committed suicide and killed his two children before that.

That one happened on the 1st day of Eid.

Sad.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps there should be a meeting of all ex-ISA detainees. The MH case should open a floodgate but it won't open automatically. You still need manually open it.

These ex-ISA detainees should be non-politicians when they were arrested and did not become politicians after they got out. That means people like your father.

Or we shouldn't put any limitations. ALL former ISA detainees can be part of it.

They should appoint a panel of lawyers, led by Sivarasa and involving lawyers who are relatives of the ex-detainees, which will take up their case against the Government.

Ask for a billion ringgit as this is the billion-ringgit hadhari era. Anything less will be treated as non-consequential by the Imam hadhari.

The people will surely rally behind these ex-ISA detainees. My word, how they will rally behind Pak Samad, Hisham Rais, Anwar Ibrahim, Abdullah Ahmad (the former diplomat), etc!!

Nuraina, you should lead the way!

Anonymous said...

Anon 12:34am who proposed a mass suit by ex-ISA detainees against the government...

I think it is not possible la. Can you imagine what will happen if all ex-detainees sue the government? That's not justice, that's revenge!

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

i'm one proud malaysian to see dr sheikh took off and waited eagerly for him to come back to earth. that was our fellow malaysian up there in ISS.

and it really has been raining since a few days before raya that i once lighted a stick of moontraveler from the window.

BaitiBadarudin said...

Hi,
wet raya did dampen our spirit to do the visiting route. and all the negative and tragic news as well. wonder what's happening to humanity?

Anonymous said...

hi nuraina,

was glad to hear bout the judgementof teh isa case, but m a little worried that its jus gov tactics to re-affirm the public faith in the judiciary in the hopes we would forget bout the whole mess of a judiaciary we have, wat say u?

Anonymous said...

nuraina.... real sad that dr sheikh lost his brother, when he and his family should be rejoicing on his successful space trip and safe touch down.

dear.... thanks for the hari raya invite to your parents house...enjoyed the ketupat and rendang very much......pascual.