I could not believe my eyes that I was reading a news item in The Malay Mail that quoted the inspector-general of police or IGP (yes, the most senior police officer of our law enforcement authority) saying that there is nothing in the law which states that they are not authorised to interview school children without the presence of their parents. Does he even understand the definition of minors?

Let me quote the exact words as reported by Malaysiakini in The Malay Mail , pg 9 on Sept 6, 2013.

“Why can’t we (question without parents presence)? There’s nothing in the law that says we need to get consent,” Khalid Abu Bakar said.

“Who said we can’t question children?”

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Can you believe that our IGP, i.e. the chief law enforcement officer under our system of common law jurisprudence actually asked this question which declares his logic system? Is he really trained in law? Which law school did he attend? Do they actually now train others in similar ‘politics of law enforcement?’ Is our culture then only rule by law rather than the system premised upon rule of law principle?  

Is this not the same person, who is now IGP, of whom one High Court Judge said was guilty of some negligence over the death of a detainee, when he was the senior office in charge? Is his worldview of the rule by law culture, now being substantiated and proven with his own words!

Recently, I wrote a column on the breakdown of the law and order system in Malaysia; as a direct result of our “kampong standards of common law interpretation and prosecution under our close one eye culture.”

It in fact reflects our post-modernist attitudes within both law enforcement and jurisprudence which suggests, “as long as I am in authority, I can choose to interpret the law, as I do, and no one else can question me.” Wrong, they can all be challenged in our courts.

Sorry, but I am really mad and unforgiving in such public matters especially since I was a public servant. It is just that I think the public office is such a high calling and it must be taken seriously, and undertaken with a full sense of responsibility and accountability.

Therefore, I do not understand why or how this most senior law enforcer can ask such stupid questions which reveal his ignorance (or absence of knowledge). It also smacks of a common lack of basic comprehension of the principles of our rule by law system.

Information may only be head knowledge for the purpose of passing examinations, and too often interpreted as text without a full and proper appreciation of the real context. Knowledge is always the ability to distinguish between rights and wrongs of real issues in any given and clearly defined circumstance.

The difference between information and knowledge is having experience and wisdom from the world of reality. The ignorant cannot distinguish between information and knowledge especially because they lack the experience of reality and obviously lack wisdom. More accurately, it is their lack of a proper and comprehensive appreciation of the murky world of reality.

Text out of context

Let us now review the text within its original context. The IGP seems to suggest that the police have an inherent and absolute right to question any one so long as they are needed for investigative information gathering, including in this case involving school children.

Maybe so, but only if they are involved in “the actual crime and are viewed as suspects of a crime.” Even this is only so when such an investigation is done with a legal authority to carry out such an investigation.

In the current situation, there was no obvious criminal offence committed yet; as it is only an allegation about some kind of crime being committed by some persons with legal standing. And all this still happens to have happened in the compound of a school.  And therefore also the full weight of the leadership of the Education Ministry was already involved first hand in the “issue of concern.”  

Therefore, my question to the IGP is, do you really have nothing more important to do, like chasing real and live criminals? Some other related questions are:

  • Did the federal education or district Education Department ask you to get involved? Is that because they did not, or could not get the issue resolved? Do they not have the capability to handle this “small, even if sensitive issue?”
  • What is the nature of the criminal offence which was being investigated? Does it really require you “to violate the Child Act?” Are the school children the suspected criminals, then?
  • Do you not know that when children are in school uniform, they are deemed to be under the authority of the school and not their parents? Is that not why you all choose to close one eye to school children every day who break the law, especially riding motorbikes to school without crash helmets?

Rule by law in Malaysia

We have a brilliant legal system in Malaysia (as represented by the Attorney-General’s Chambers and which includes the police investigation papers) which charges two policemen, as accomplices of Razak Baginda for that murder but now it appears that no one had a real motive by the fact that all three charged are dismissed of the same crime.  

And therefore, as someone said tongue in cheek: “Since we have no evidence that the Mongolian lady ever entered this country, what is everybody’s problem anyway!”

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When both sets of the crime’s accused actors are dismissed, one can only question our entire culture of law and related appreciative understanding of the jurisprudence of rule of law. It then appears like all public actors “colluded to make the needed reality appear so,” and now even the IGP appears not to understand the rule of law.

My understanding is that our common law system of jurisprudence originated from the Greek/Roman and Judaic legal systems and especially from the spirit and the reason for these laws.

But, maybe in our rather casual interpretation of such laws and truth seeking in post-modern Malaysia, anything goes and who really cares about absolute truth or the fact a crime has been committed because one Mongolian lady’s bone fragments were found at the scene of the crime.

Just maybe, since the IGP has now confirmed that there is also no need for another investigation of that murder, maybe he is right that the police have an inherent and God-given right to decide the absolute truth in all matters, and we are all only mere actors and clowns in this nation state. May God bless Malaysia with truth and wisdom in life.