SARAWAKIAN police inspector Margaret Tagum Goen was manning a roadblock under Ops Roda/Rempit together with 20 of her fellow officers in Johor when she was run down by one of the seven illegal motorcycle racers (Mat Rempit) last Sunday morning.
She suffered a broken arm, hip bone and leg from the impact in addition to internal bleeding, and died of her injuries 12 hours later.
According to police reports, the rider involved, aged 17, was arrested soon after he fell from his motorcycle while six of his friends, between 14 and 20 years old, who had fled the scene, were picked up later.
The group was believed to be racing.
Margaret who was given the ASP rank posthumously, had a bright future ahead of her, and might even have scaled greater heights as a law enforcement officer but her life was cut short by some lawless bikers.
To the family she left behind – husband Leon, an army officer, and her parents – the anguish and pain need time to heal. Margaret’s untimely demise is also a huge loss to the police force.
Could the grevious incident have been avoided?
I could not help but wonder if this and many other tragic episodes, due to carelessness of youths, could have been prevented had parents, teachers, guardians and leaders played active roles in bringing up and guiding our young to the right path.
We have been exposing the younger generation way too much to the culture of violence and taking the law into our own hands whether through circumstances surrounding politics or by deliberately flaunting our power.
I had an hour free time on Tuesday night and was blessed to have been able to listen to a political speech at a “ceremah” for the Singapore general election. (Thanks to my friend Johnny, the transcript is his.)
The opposition candidate Dr Chee Soon Juan said: “I don’t want to give an alternative policy on how we will become richer and richer, not if it means we can lose our souls, our very essence of being human.
“Being human is to show compassion, to care for our fellow beings, for those less fortunate than us.
“I try to impart these values to my children too – that if they see their friends getting bullied, for example, they must intervene, even if the bullies are bigger and turn on them and they get pummeled. I tell them it is better to get a bloodied nose than becoming cowardly indifferent in the face of cruelty and injustice.
“I live in a 3-room HDB flat in Toa Payoh. My neighbours are haskers, lorry drivers and old job labourers. I couldn’t have asked for a better neighbourhood to bring up my children.
“I want to teach E Lyn and Shaw Hur humility and compassion. I want them to learn about serving others instead of being served. I want them to be scholars not just in mathematics or science but also in caring for humanity.”
It was a sincere, reflective and soul-searching speech – not a trace of intention to harbour hatred towards the government even as he brought out the defects of the ruling PAP which he thought were not favourable to the senior citizens in the face of rising living costs.
I had been to many ceramahs and none of the candidates, whether from the opposition or the ruling government, had impressed me like Dr Chee had.
The speech was in English. Dr Chee could not be considered a great orator but it was his sincerity and deep sense of logic that won the cheers of the crowd.
Now, are the crowd in Singapore more intelligent than ours in Malaysia? I do not wish to believe it is so. But, in any event, an intelligent crowd will most certainly give the circus of our politicians a wide berth.
Dr Chee and his colleagues may have lost a battle, but I believe, he has won the hearts of many and sown the seeds of compassion, freedom of speech and democracy.
His ceramah was so different from the local ceramahs where it is not atypical nor unusual to hear a lot of shouting, insulting and swearing by the politicians.
My young intern, a second-year university student who was on attachment with our paper, came back from covering the State Legislative Assembly sitting on August 17 and declared colloquially: “Die also don’t want to join xxx (party).
“The leader has no substance. His speech is like kopi tiam talk, trying to fish for some votes. But whose votes was he fishing in DUN?”
Another youth who went to Bersih 4 at Song Kheng Hai ground on August 29, could not believe a state assembly member could stoop so low as to sound so vulgar in her rhetorical speech.
“She said ‘lut’ the Chief Minister and the Prime Minister, and surprisingly, the crowd cheered.”
The youth was clearly befuddled and confused.
I was perplexed too and but felt compelled to ask: “Excuse me, what is lut?”
“Hokkien word – can use it to say ‘fight’ in a vulgar way but that word immediately leads people to think of the ‘f’ word,” the youth explained while I blushed.
When Bersih 4 organisers refused to pay the post-rally trash clearing fee of RM65,000, Housing, Urban Well-being and Local Government Minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan issued a warning: “If Bersih refuse to pay, the next time if they hold another illegal demonstration in Kuala Lumpur, I will dump the rubbish in front of their office.”
It may sound logical but the minister lost out on moral ground, definitely, by letting the chance slip to educate the young that things do not work this way. The lesson should have been that when you litter, make sure you take responsibility and not let others pay to clean up the garbage you spill.
In a country where there is unity, peace and prosperity, the ones who have been voted to the position of power must show they are ready to serve. Ambition does not always prevail but meekness always rules. The low, the meek, and the quiet are chosen to be used by God.
With the imminient state election, may we throw a challenge to the candidates to come up with mature, intelligent and sincere speeches.
You see the problems that plague the country, how are you going to address them? Let the aspiring candidates tell us their plans.
We will tell you whether we buy your plans through our votes.