Letter from Azman Ismail, Pak Din's Brother

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry when I first read that my brother, Pak Din was arrested this morning. To laugh, because of the ludicrousness when one thinks of the recent history of arrests. Indeed the shameful or rather shameless government has lost all sanity and humanitarian values.

The police is no help either. Until at the time of writing this letter, they have not told us (his family, brothers and sisters) on what charge they have arrested him.

This is not the first time that my brother Pak Din runs foul of the “law”, if there is law in the first place. My brother Pak Din, who has always been a man of integrity, was arrested before and was beaten to such an extent that he nearly fainted. His only crime is to fight for natural justice and the downtrodden.

I made three police reports then i.e. on Monday 26 October 1998 but to no avail. Until today nothing is done. (I have written to Malaysiakini once and my letter was entitled “Police Report No Use”).

The police has not only shown its incompetence, but it’s impotence as well when facing it’s political masters. The Malay proverb “Harapkan Pagar, Pagar Makan Padi” aptly but not completely describes the police force.

The police force is now indeed a farting farce. It was not what it used to be. My father used to be in the police force (Number 238) but he has always taught us to be principled. I am proud of my father who was a police officer, but the police nowadays should be ashamed of themselves.

They (in general) have no courage to stand up and be counted among those who are fighting for justice and security of this country. One of my other brothers, who ironically was beaten and arrested at the same time with Pak Din 1998, was also in the police force. I also have several friends who are in the police.

That should make me respect them, but no, they have not only earned the hatred of my family but the families of those who have been wrongfully arrested, beaten, tortured and killed by the police.

Such is the state of our country now but the future offers some hope as the rakyat are no longer apathetic. Let us hope that this will lead to a total reformation of the security apparatus, namely the police.

I end with a few lines from Paul McCartney’s song, “Whether it would be right, I don’t know. What it would be like, I don’t know. We live in hope of deliverance from the darkness that surrounds us.”

Azman Ismail