08:30 hrs Customs officer Sarbaini waits in an MACC office.
10:30 hrs Room is empty. Window is open. Sarbaini lies on the badminton court, below.
Some one alleges that Sarbaini wanted to leave, but decides to use the window.
Fact 1: CCTV recording available.
Fact 2: During investigation, it transpires that the video footage was “accidentally erased”.
Injustice is one reason to join Bersih 4.
No accountability. No one is held responsible.
One man died. He joins Teoh Beng Hock, A Kugan, Aminulrasyid and countless others.
How many more lives must be lost?
Excerpts of the article are below. The full article is in TheAntDaily.
It is widely believed that when faced with an injustice, the Chinese will fight hard, to get as close to the truth as is possible, while Malays react by being resigned to their fate. “Takdir Allah,” is the usual lament of the Malays, but not anymore. Let us also hope that this is not the case, in the death of customs officer Ahmad Sarbaini.
Sarbaini died, on April 6, 2011, when he was in the custody of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC). He had voluntarily gone to the MACC’s Federal Territory headquarters, on Jalan Cochrane, to retract a statement that he made on April 4.
In 2011, The Star reported that over 70 NGOs had demanded the suspension of the MACC investigations director and all the officers connected to the customs investigations. It was also suggested that a Commission of Inquiry (CI) be set up, but Minister in the PM’s Department Nazri Aziz rejected this idea.
Suaram director Kua Kia Soong urged the government to establish the government-proposed Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), but his plea was ignored.
ON 17 August 2015, Sarbaini’s widow’s lawsuit was dismissed. His widow is distraught, but it is shocking that the majority of Malaysians are largely unmoved. If this was the west, Indonesia or India, there would have been a public outcry and protests demanding justice for Sarbaini; but this is Malaysia, where our understanding of human rights, our compassion and our call to action, on behalf of those who may have suffered a miscarriage of justice, is exceedingly poor.
Suspicions remain and the investigation casts a long shadow, because Sarbaini’s mysterious death at the hands of the MACC is not the first. Teoh Beng Hock’s death is still unresolved.
To add insult to injury, the CCTV recording of the room Sarbaini was in, was accidentally deleted. Why? There is a saying; once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, but thrice is a pattern.
There have been too many instances where crucial footage has been “accidentally erased”. It is only right that Malaysians rally behind Sarbaini’s family and demand justice, just as we did for Teoh Beng Hock.
Those who fail to demand justice, must be happy to live in a state which condones extra-judicial execution.
Leave a Comment