Sajakkini

Elizabeth Wong : 13th Floor

Ahmad Harizal Ahmad Fauzie is an accidental hero, whether he knows it or not.

It started out as a search for the example of what would happen to youths who dared to contemplate skipping national service.

The full force of the law will come down hard on you.

You will be hunted, arrested, interrogated by the police and charged in court.

The deputy public prosecutor and the magistrate will perform according to the given script.

Resistance is futile.

So Ahmad Harizal was found guilty and emerged handcuffed from the court under the full glare of the media to serve his 14-day sentence. His family could not pay the RM 600 fine to save him from the penal colony of Kangar. (more…)

Elizabeth Wong : 13th Floor

If you had chanced upon last Sunday’s headline news in a leading English tabloid (”Crude, Rude and Abusive”), you would have been forgiven had you speculated that another set of photographs of Iraqis abused in Abu Ghraib had been released, or that ‘BDSM-meets-American Idol’ was the latest trend in our fair land.

There were elements of force, domination, humiliation, voyeurism, exhibitionism, forced confinement, a variation of golden showers, dirty talk reserved for the women, and ‘blowing’ (into a breathalyzer) for men.

No one wants to be prudish here. If consenting adults want to play games in the privacy of their bedrooms, by all means, go ahead.

But the tabloid was not offering our daily dose of sensational sleaze.

Instead it highlighted an incident two weeks ago that began at one of the more popular Kuala Lumpur clubs and ended up in the corridors of the Federal Territory Department of Religious Affairs (Jawi) with Muslims Malaysian being tortured. (more…)

Elizabeth Wong : 13th Floor

You want the whole world to know of your silent suffering in the hands of the ex-boyfriend, girlfriend, hamster or employer.

You want your relatives to bear witness to your holiday photographic skills because your mother refuses to hang them in the living room.

You want to make friends and swap files with those who secretly fancy Buttercup.

You want to be Belle de Jour and get that publishing contract even if rejection letter #362 is staring at your face. Or maybe you just want to tell everyone how upset you were when you were forced to abandon your bacon sandwich five kilometres away from the school compound.

What do you do? (more…)

Elizabeth Wong : 13th Floor

When Anwar Ibrahim was released last week, there was no end to questions of whether his release signals the return of democracy and whether our judiciary is now finally independent.

A veteran rights activist remarked to some of us in jest that ‘we have democracy now’. It was the first time we have had a demonstration in an air conditioned place, as we stood shoulder to shoulder with thousands of reformists and well-wishers at the airport to catch a glimpse of Anwar.

Everyone loves a quick fix but sadly there isn’t such a thing as instant democracy. As much as we would like there to be, just as much as we adore our instant noodles, there needs to be a lot more ingredients to fill us up than the release of our most famous political prisoner.

After all, if Aung San Suu Kyi is released from house arrest, do we pat the backs of the generals for a job well-done and declare that democracy has returned to Burma? (more…)

Elizabeth Wong : 13th Floor

The mountain made out of the molehill that was the article by Johor-based lawyer Yang Pei Kang paradoxically brings back memories of my trip to Silifke a decade ago.

One evening, I happened to stroll into a beautiful park to escape the remnants of the Turkish summer heat. As dusk fell over the golden horizon, there was a hauntingly beautiful sound that I had not heard since living in Sydney for six years.

I stayed rooted on the spot awash with nostalgia of home and things past. It was the azan (Muslim call to prayer). (more…)

Elizabeth Wong : 13th Floor

Someone way out in Putrajaya must be having a bad case of epiphanies - the latest being a ‘National Integrity Plan’ designed to “imbue our Malaysian society with a strong sense of right and wrong”.

While the swords of moral philosophy remain unsheathed in the meta- and normative war of ethics, our government now sees fit to set in stone the ‘boleh-land’ definition of what is right and wrong. A Herculean effort considering the government has done so without the help from our poorly funded, gagged and darkened halls of academia and a distinguished philosophy department to boot (I digress). (more…)

Elizabeth Wong : 13th Floor

In the long list of individuals named by premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s government as “eminent and credible” enough to be members of the ‘Special Commission to Enhance the Operations and Management of the Royal Malaysia Police’, one name stands out from the rest - Mohd Hanif Omar.

This is a man certainly not known for his ferocity in the defence of civil liberties, or for an exemplary record of putting the police in place. Finding the former director of Special Branch and ex-inspector general of police (June 1974-January 1994) on the name list has caused much distress to all victims of police torture during his time.

When his name was first suggested by, no less than a sitting member of the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam), many human rights activists were aghast. That he has been appointed deputy chairperson is a bad reflection on the credibility of the special commission. (more…)