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Dad: Son ‘beaten like a cow,’ framed of engine theft

By Joseph Sipalan and Gavaskar Brian Raj | Malaysiakini

The father of Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) sergeant N Tharmendran today alleged that his son was tortured and forced to confess to the theft of two jet engines while under remand.

“They beat him like a cow,” said N Nagarajah, 71, after lodging a police report on the matter at the Brickfields police headquarters today.

Nagarajah was accompanied by human rights lawyer N Surendran and three PR members of parliament – DAP’s M Manogaran (Teluk Intan) and PKR’s S Manikavasagam (Kapar) and Low Gwo Burne (Kelana Jaya).

Nagarajah claimed that two RMAF officers, a Major Azam and a Major Ismail, had beaten and mistreated his son over a period of nearly three weeks from July 2 to 17 last year.
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Malaysia in the Era of Globalization #19

By Bakri Musa

Chapter 3: Lessons From The Past

The European Reformation

The Reformation refers to the religious revolution that took place in Western Europe during the 16th century. The pivotal event occurred in October 31, 1517, when the German preacher, Martin Luther, publicly posted his Ninety-Five Theses challenging the authority and practices of the Catholic Church. Needless to say, the Pope was not amused. Luther’s aim was to reform the institution; instead his protest ended up splitting the church, hence the terms Reformation and Protestant.

Luther was not the first, nor the only one to protest against the excesses of the Church. To understand why there was such widespread discontent among Christians then, an account of the behaviors and practices of the church establishment at the time is warranted.

The Church during Luther’s time was more than a pan-European religious institution. It was also the unchallenged social, political, and even economic power. Having wielded unchallenged authority for so long, it was inevitable that corruption, nepotism (or to put it in modern political term, cronyism), and other unsavory practices would emerge among Church leaders.
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