BN condones violence?

Mariam Mokhtar | May 16, 11
Malaysiakini

Does Umno consider the life of a three-year-old fair-game in the war for political power? When will Umno take seriously the threat to kidnap MP Nurul Izzah Anwar’s three-year-old daughter?

Are Umno politicians so politically immature and morally corrupt? Perhaps Umno’s propaganda machine considers a defenceless child is just a pawn to use to gain political advantage.

Umno vice-president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was sceptical of the threat to kidnap Nurul’s child. He believed it was “just an opposition ploy to gain sympathy”.

Perhaps, if his child were to face similar threats, Zahid, who is also Defence Minister, would not mind if we were to tell him that he should ‘grin and bear it.’

Few will forget Zahid’s embarrassing back-tracking over his statements which alluded to the loyalties of the non-Malays in the armed forces. He wasn’t such a brave man when he faced the nation’s wrath.

Then we have Perkasa’s Ibrahim Ali (left) who allegedly said at a rally in Kg Changkat, Gombak over the weekend, that Nurul “was seeking sympathy through political gimmicks like the kidnap threat”.

If that wasn’t sufficiently vile, he then allegedly said that “he wouldn’t be surprised if ‘kereta Izzah meletup’ to gain sympathy”.

Is he mad to think that politicians should stage acts of simulated violence to gain votes?

Ibrahim Ali, the so-called champion of Malay rights who also claims to uphold the tenets of Islam, is a disgrace to his race and his religion.

Perhaps, in the eyes of his supporters, he can do no wrong, just like those extremists who blow up cars in other parts of the world and think that they will have brought awareness to their cause, by killing and maiming other people.

‘Lucky’ to get an ‘early warning’

The women of Puteri Umno are just as vile. Rosnah Abdul Rashid tweeted on 13 May, saying “I think YB is a lucky mother indeed becoz she received an early warning of the kidnapping plot from the kidnapper himself”.

The Puteri Umno representative is a complete fool to think that Nurul was “lucky” to have received an “early warning”.

If the boot had been on the other foot, and it was Rosnah (left) who had received a kidnap threat, this contemptuous woman would probably be the first to demand 24-hour armed police protection, a fortress to protect her and safe houses galore.

The policemen investigating Nurul’s case, although helpful, told Nurul that the police “cannot compel service providers to act with urgency”, to reveal the identities of the person or persons who sent her the sms, because of privacy issues.

How is it possible that the Special Branch have ready access to the phone contacts of opposition politicians?

Why are there two sets of laws – one for the political elite and one for the rest of society?

How is it that the threat of a kidnap, especially when it was compared with the tragic disappearance of Sharlinie Mohd Nashar, is not considered serious?

Will our police only be compelled to act with urgency, when there is a death or there is the receipt of body parts, as in the Getty kidnap case, where the ears of the child were delivered by post?

Nurul Izzah is a mother and a rising politician. It is widely known that the ruling party feels threatened by the actions of her father. These threats were politically motivated and come soon after similar threats were made by the ‘Datuk T’ trio.

Only cowards would think that the way to stop Anwar in his political tracks, is to threaten his daughter and granddaughter.

Although malicious calls are part and parcel of the life of an opposition politician, kidnap and sabotage, are very serious crimes. If you recall, the brakes on Anwar’s car were damaged.

Before Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak flew to London, did he condemn the various Umno and extremist Malay groups who claimed Nurul was ‘pretending’?

Did Najib use the mainstream media to say that Malaysia had no place for such cowardly acts of violence?

Did he warn those responsible, that these crimes have serious consequences? Did he instruct the police to act swiftly, in case other copy-cat kidnappers were to emerge?

No. He did not!

Both he and the Home Minister, Hishammuddin Hussein are as guilty as the person who sent out the kidnap threat and as guilty as the person who tampered with the brakes on Anwar’s car.

The authorities have to take this sort of threat seriously. The media should too, as there are many cranks amongst the public who might be motivated by the perverse comments of Zahid, Rosnah and Ibrahim Ali.

In the west, threats against the opposition parties are taken seriously and investigations are conducted with expediency. It appears that in Malaysia, that only happens if threats were to be made against Umno-BN politicians.

In the west, police protection would have been offered or increased patrols made, at least until the risk of the threat has passed. In Malaysia, the public might be forgiven for thinking that justice might only be served it they decided to take matters into their own hands.

Immediate risk assessment

In the west, the police intelligence unit would have different approaches when dealing with threats to kill and threats to life. An immediate risk assessment based on intelligence available would categorise the threat into low, medium or high risk, with medium and high normally given the same priority. Is the same done in Malaysia?

Nurul Izzah is not asking for extra special treatment. In her line of work, she has met many mothers whose children have been killed but the investigations of the death have reached a dead end.

Nurul Izzah only wants fair treatment by the police. No more, no less.

After all, don’t the police have a “duty to protect” its civilians, including the opposition politicians?

Incredibly, no members of BN, not just Umno, have made any attempt to condemn such despicable acts of violence. Their silence speaks volumes about their guilt. They must bear the blame.

Perhaps, they know who engineered the threats and they dare not condemn him, or her.

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a non-conformist traditionalist from Perak, a bucket chemist and an armchair eco-warrior. In ‘real-speak’, this translates into that she comes from Ipoh, values change but respects culture, is a petroleum chemist and also an environmental pollution-control scientist.