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Monday, 31-May-2004 10:53 AM Black 14: many an incident to be ‘celebrated’ on that day 14 April 2004 is many things to many people. To my wife and me, that was the date of our 31st wedding anniversary. We got married on 14 April 1973 after being engaged for a year and after five years of ‘going steady’. No, we are not that old if that is what you are thinking. I met my wife when she was 14 and I 18. We were childhood sweethearts in the true sense of the word and after meeting each other quite by accident we never looked back. In fact, our first encounter was almost a traffic accident. I was rushing to school on my motorbike -- I started riding at the age of 16 and still do till this day though I am pushing 54 -- and she was running across the road to catch her school bus. As I zipped round the corner I almost knocked down this fuzzy-haired girl. I shouted at her and she shouted something back. Not quite sure what it was but it certainly was quite obscene. I suppose this was more a case of love at first fight rather than love at first sight. Anyway, later on my brother introduced to me to this girl he knew and how embarrassing when it turned out to be this very girl. Well, we fell in love almost immediately and now she is my entire life. Okay, enough of this mushy-mushy stuff. 14 April 2004 to Anwar Ibrahim’s family and friends is ‘Black 14’, the infamous day that he was found guilty of ‘corruption’ and sentenced to a total of 24 years jail on four charges. Surprisingly, he was charged under a section of the law that is normally meant for those who have benefited financially from their so-called corrupt acts. Anwar, however, did not benefit one iota monetarily from his alleged corrupt act. What he was alleged to have done is to use his office or abuse his authority to get the police to coerce witnesses to change their testimony alleging he was involved in sexual misconduct. (Others charged under this same section of this law were slapped with a token fine and never saw the inside of prison walls though their crime involved millions of Ringgit which they were not made to return). During the trial, it was revealed that the police had gone to see him and insisted that he lodge a police report against those who had accused him of sexual misconduct -- not Anwar who summoned them to see him as alleged. He had refused at first but they persisted, citing that it was necessary for the sake of ‘national security’ that he do so. Anwar then referred the matter to the then Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who also advised him to ignore the matter. But the police were persistent and finally, on the insistence of the police, Anwar made that police report. Armed with the police report, the police then launched an investigation into Anwar’s so-called sexual activities, not against those alleging his sexual misconduct. According to Azmin Ali in his testimony in court, the police came to see him to try to get an appointment to see his boss, Anwar. They were dying to meet him but could not get access to him so they tried to get to Anwar through Azmin. Not aware of their dubious intentions, Azmin arranged for an appointment for them to meet Anwar. And that was the beginning of the end for Anwar. Talking about dying and police, 14 April 2004 is also the day an unknown personality, G. Francis Udayapan, was arrested where he eventually met his death while under police custody. It seems he had escaped two days later while still under police custody and in handcuffs and just disappeared thereafter. According to the official story, Udayapan escaped on 16 April 2004 by jumping out of the first floor window of the Brickfields Police Station whilst being taken for interrogation, then squeezed through a hole in the fence and jumped into the Klang River behind the police station. At 6.00pm on 23 May 2004, his decomposed body was found and, two days later, on 25 May 2004, his mother, Sara Lily George, identified the decomposed body as that of her son. Earlier, on 22 April 2004, the police headquarters at Bukit Aman launched an investigation into the matter and ruled that there was no ‘foul play’. Udayapan was supposed to have been dead for 37 days, rotting in the river. However, his body still looked ‘good’ and ‘intact’ indicating that this could not have been so. Udayapan’s mother has complained that the police have been harassing her, her family and her lawyers in an apparent attempt to get them to clam up and not raise so much fuss. She has refused to claim her son’s body until she receives a post mortem report. Udayapan’s death is not the only extra-judicial killing. In fact, this has been going on in Malaysia for some time now. Bank robbers and kidnappers have been killed while ‘resisting arrest’, as have notorious gangsters and other scum of society. Invariably, a gun would always be found beside the dead body. I remember one state police chief -- known as CPO or Chief Police Officer -- back in the 1970s, Zakaria Chik. He was the CPO of Terengganu, a relatively sleepy state with not much happening other than the occasional stolen bicycle or lost goat. His next posting was Pahang after which he went to Johore, a state that ex-Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew called a crime zone -- a statement which upset Malaysia like hell. With Zakaria Chik as the new CPO of Johore, the kill rate of criminals ‘resisting arrest’ hit the roof. I bumped into Zakaria Chik not long after that and commented on this and what he replied was quite alarming indeed. “I have instructed my police to take no prisoners. We don’t want to put them on trial where a smart lawyer will get them off and put them on the streets again.” “If any of my police bring back prisoners,” explained Zakaria Chik, “They will be transferred to traffic duty.” “So no one dares bring in any prisoners,” chuckled Zakaria Chik. “They are all shot ‘resisting arrest’.” “The criminals know this,” said Zakaria Chik. “They know we take no prisoners. So they don’t bother to surrender. They will just get a bullet in the head. So they might as well shoot it out and try to escape. At least they have a better chance than surrendering. And we just shoot them dead.” Zakaria Chik was all smiles and extremely pleased with himself as he enlightened me on the Johore State Police ‘policy’. Well, that sums it all quite appropriately why many a Malaysian Al Capone never saw trial. They all died in a blaze of glory in a very dramatic Old Chicago fashion. They might as well go down fighting than be killed like a sitting duck. Incidentally, Zakaria Chik was eventually forced to resign after being implicated in a stolen car ring. It seems they steal expensive Mercedes Benzes and BMWs from Singapore and smuggle them into Johore to be registered as ‘imported cars’. And Zakaria Chik was said to be the kingpin in this ring that included the Road Transport and Customs Department officials as well. He was never indicted though. As a footnote, I was asked to say a few words at Zakaria Chik’s farewell dinner thrown in his honour just before he left Terengganu. In my closing speech, I said, “I have known many CPOs before this and I will probably get to meet many more after this. But Zakaria Chik is the best CPO money can buy.” He was furious. He stood up and pointed his finger at me and said, “I will reject your gun permit application.” I had applied for a gun permit some months before that but it was still pending. A mutual friend told me it will never be approved until I pay the customary RM60,000 ‘under the table fees’. Everyone has to pay to get their gun permit approved, said my friend. I refused to pay so I did not get my gun permit. And my farewell speech ensured I would never own a gun. Maybe just as well now considering what I might use it for.
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