Police power challenged

THE deafening silence among politicians and community leaders over the storming of the Sibu Hospital early in the week by an armed gang to beat up a man in the Accident and Emergency Ward is baffling.

What was even more galling was that the 20 armed men who styled themselves as ‘debt collectors’ assaulted the man in the presence of three armed policemen who had rescued the victim from an earlier beating at a café.

In fact, the assailants more than ignored the men in blue as several of them actually pinned the cops to the ground while the rest beat up the man as medical personnel looked on helplessly.

According to reports, the victim is a 28-year-old Sibu resident while most of the armed attackers are younger adults.

Sarawak has seen a rise in blatant challenges to police power in recent years and this incident is the worst so far.

While the total disregard for the law and its enforcers is a serious cause for concern, what is even more worrying is that aside from See Chee How, the Batu Lintang state assemblyman, not a single political or community leader has voiced any concern over this brazen disregard for law and order, even in the presence of the police.

Has our society degenerated to accepting such lawlessness as something we have to live with? Or are our leaders too intimidated by these gangs to raise even a whimper against them?

The police responded by arresting nine of the gang members the same day and detaining them for three days before releasing them on bail.

Sibu police chief ACP Shafie said they would be charged for rioting with dangerous weapons and would be fined or jailed, if found guilty.

While we should praise the police for their quick response, it is disturbing to note that nothing was said about getting to the root of the problem.

Charging nine of the attackers (were the other 11 were innocent bystanders?) is like taking painkiller for headache without actually curing the ailment. 

It is alarming that Shafie himself had openly said he believed the spate of violent crimes was linked to underground cyber gambling, a scourge the police in Sibu have vowed to eradicate.

However, aside from a few raids on cyber cafes, resulting in the seizure of computers and arrest of some workers, efforts to get to the bottom of the problem appear to have been in vain so far.

Even the man in the street seemed to have dismissed the case as ‘another of those things that happened’ and got on with life. Why bother when it is none of our business?

If that is situation, then we are travelling down a very dangerous road that will eventually lead to even bigger social problems. The erosion of police power, a key component of the rule of law, will inevitably lead to a collapse of the rule of law.

More than ever before, the nation has seen many challenging the power of the police -- either in the form of illegal street protests and rallies, or in a rarer case like the hospital incident where armed men held down police personnel to get at their victim in front of so many witnesses.

Seemingly, some politicians have tried to steer public opinion in favour of the challenge to police power for their own political ends or whatever reason best known to themselves.

However, could not police power be gradually eroded by the disquieting trend among certain groups, including young adults (supposedly our pillars of the future), of thumbing their nose at authority? This is the crucial question that must be asked and add-ressed.

According to the background of the case, the victim in the hospital attack had borrowed RM150,000 to bet at a cyber gambling centre. He lost big -- and his family had to bail him out but he still owes RM30,000 plus interest. The family, who has been threatened, is still trying to come up with money to pay off the debt.

The victim was reported to have also been kidnapped on May 1 and only released after his family successfully negotiated for his freedom.

Obviously, neither the victim nor his family lodged a police report of the kidnap. Or had the police been slow to act? The alleged abduction was brought to light only one month later when the victim was assaulted in the café and subsequently sent -- under police escort -- to the hospital where he got another beating.

A loan of RM150,000 from a cyber gambling centre is a shockingly huge sum. Many will not able to save that much in one lifetime of working!

Was it at a cyber café that the borrower was beaten up? Was it the same cyber café that lent him the money to gamble? Is the cyber café licensed and legal? There are many questions the public want answered.

It is believed the recent mafia-style shootings were related to failure on the part of cyber gamblers to settle their debts. All the cases are still unsolved.

In March this year, a businessman who ran several pubs and reflexology outlets was also shot by an unidentified gunman at a traffic light junction in Miri.

In August last year, a 48-year-old businessman with interests in pubs and other ventures died after being shot pointblank twice at a traffic light junction also in Miri.

In October the same year at a popular café, 44-year-old Law Leh Kuong was shot at close range and she died from her injuries. The woman was with her timber and entertainment businessman husband at the time of the shooting.

A month later (Nov), more than 30 gangsters, armed with kwantau, parang, swords, baseball bats and other weapons, broke into a street fight for control of cyber gambling territory in Bintulu.

Earlier on in January, the woman’s younger brother was also shot dead in another broad daylight street shooting. Then in July, a 30-year-old man was shot in the head with a shotgun while having breakfast at a shop in Kuching. He died the following day.

In May 2011, a molotov cocktail was thrown at a police inspector’s car, damaging the door on the driver’s side. No casualty was reported.

“My men are following my instructions in carrying out their duties and they (the gangsters) are apparently trying to challenge me. Be a gentleman and please come to me directly,” Shafie said.

While the Sibu police chief may take the gangsters’ defiance as a personal challenge to him, for the public, it’s a challenge to the police as a whole.

Most people who borrowed from cyber gambling centres for their betting were saddled with crippling debts following losing streaks and they paid a heavy price if they failed to settle.

“That’s how violent crimes started -- when the group asked the debtor to come out and talk over the debt,” Shafie noted.

With such a settlement procedure, especially the part where the borrower can “talk over the debt” with the lender, one can be exonerated for thinking that collecting cyber gambling debts is a legal profession!

Street shootings. Gunshots fired at house. Firecrackers thrown into house. It seems many of our towns are teeming with miscreants, racketeers and thugs. An alarming scenario, to say the least.

Allowing police power to dwindle and diminish will inevitably lead to a disruption or even a collapse of the rule of law.

See Chee How, who is also the state PKR vice chairman, has said voiced out that besides the Penal Code, there are sufficient legislation and enactments to prosecute the operators and owners of illegal premises.

It’s certainly time for our law enforcers to step up their crime-prevention efforts lest the cost will be too high for us all when we have to deal with more social ills linked to illegal businesses.