A day ago I heard on the radio that an Indonesian woman was raped by three local policeman in a Penang Police Station.
I was shocked! If the guardians of the Law were rapists, what chance do we have in this nation? The poor woman took a taxi in the morning, these fiends trailed the taxi and forced it to stop. The police hand-cuffed and intimidated the driver into submission. Later they released him and took the woman into "custody". Apparently when the taxi driver and the victim called a press conference with the help of an elected official, ten citizens came forward to confirm they witnessed the "kidnapping".
What were the three thinking when they decided to do the unthinkable? Did they really believe that they were above the Law? Did they really believe that the taxi driver and the witnesses were so afraid that they would keep quiet? If these eleven were to keep quiet, I suppose these policemen could go on and act like the Nazis with impunity!
This tragedy brought to mind what I witnessed in a nearby eatery. I went to an Indonesian shop to buy fried rice one morning at 11:30 am. As one waitress was packing my food, two policemen in plain clothes came in and arrested one worker with no work permit. The waitress serving me hurriedly took my money and departed. She ran upstairs to call the owner, who is another Indonesian woman. The owner came down and called the husband of the helper who was arrested. According to her, once the husband appeared and pay a fine which bore no receipt, the wife would be released. They dared not let her be in custody for too long in case she gets raped. At that time, I took the comment with a big pinch of salt. Now, I realized that the owner did not exaggerate at all!
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