The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion
The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion |
| Why did the police do what they did? Posted: 14 Jul 2011 05:42 PM PDT JULY 15 — The tough policeman with the huge muscles grabbed me by my shoulders and flung me towards the sidewalk not caring that I had a press tag around my neck. I struggled to keep my balance and not drop my camera. I barely managed to not trip over the curb. "Halau cameraman itu! (Get rid of that cameraman!)" screamed the policeman's other colleagues. My crime? I was shooting a bunch of arrested demonstrators being led out of Tung Shin Hospital and through a police line. The detainees had their hands "cuffed" and looked pretty much subdued. However, as they were led through the line, they were kicked and punched by the police. I was on assignment for The Malaysian Insider to gather video footage of the Bersih rally in Kuala Lumpur on July 9. But I couldn't get enough footage of that incident since I ended up behind police lines along with other members of the media, cordoned off from what was happening. There were many instances on the day when demonstrators were being arrested and people around would start yelling for the media to come document it. "Media! Cepat! Polis tengah tahan orang! (Media! Hurry up! The police are arresting people!)" they would scream. Many of them wanted visual proof that the police were being overly-aggressive when it came to arresting peaceful demonstrators. Many also realised that if the media was around during the arrests, the police were less likely to use excessive force. To me, that is just proof that a free and balanced media is a very important component to keep the wheel of democracy spinning smoothly. But, of course, keeping things going smoothly can be close to impossible while being under such tense situations. In the morning, before the demonstrators arrived in the city, the situation was very calm even though there were police everywhere. The media, myself included, were free to roam around, taking pictures and video of the police all ready to face the day. When the demonstrators started arriving, things got a bit tense. However, as far as my observations went, the tension did not arise from the demonstrators. They were just marching and chanting for free elections. It was when the crowd got big (around 10,000 of them) that trouble started in front of Menara Maybank. The trouble definitely did not start with the demonstrators. They didn't approach the police. It was the police who came in firing tear gas and chemically-laced water. The demonstrators were pushed back towards Jalan Pudu and that's when all the aggressive arrests started happening. At this point, the media were allowed free movement, even though we were screamed at to move away by the police. But we were not physically man-handled. It was only after the second wave of tear gas attacks that the police started to control the media by cordoning them off behind police lines. My friend, film director Liew Seng Tat, came to me and said he saw the police firing tear gas into Tung Shin Hospital. He then disappeared to join the rest. Twenty minutes later, he was arrested and brought through the same police line that kicked and punched him while his hands were cuffed behind him. The media must be given freedom to be there, if not to prevent it from happening in the first place, then definitely in order to inform the public of what happened. I spoke to a journalist from a local 24-hour news channel and told him about how the police shoved me away and didn't allow me to shoot them beating up detainees. "Footage macam itu memang tak boleh keluar TV pun (Footage like that can't be shown on TV anyway)," he shrugged. The response that I got from him showed me the defeatist attitude of some segments of the local media and this almost got me down for a while. But thank God that feeling didn't last long and I still believe in the power of the media when it comes to sticking up for human rights and defending the ordinary folk. I also believe that the police exist to serve the people and keep them protected and safe. Then why did they attack, arrest and beat peaceful demonstrators? They must know that they were doing wrong if they felt the need to keep the media away from witnessing what they were doing. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Posted: 14 Jul 2011 05:35 PM PDT JULY 15 — We just can't seem to stop shipping in goals with eight being conceded in the last two matches, four each against Taiwan and Arsenal. Well, to be fair, we were going to let in goals against Arsenal but the manner in which we keep giving them away spells trouble ahead of the Road to Brazil 2014 clash against Singapore on July 23. The defence on display in the two matches above and likely to be playing against Singapore — Mahali Jasuli, Aidil Zafuan, Muslim Ahmad, Fadhli Shas and Asrarudin Putra — seem to struggle as individuals. The edge seems to have gone off their game as individuals and whichever four take the pitch seem to struggle as a unit. Has the breaking up of the central defensive partnership of Muslim and Fadhli to accommodate Aidil backfired as despite Aidil's goals, he has the extreme tendency to make rash challenges. The lazy challenge on Jack Wilshere to give Arsenal a penalty early in the game is the latest in a long line of bad decision making. Are Muslim and Fadhli beginning to suffer from burnout after playing in the Super League, Pre-Olympics and the Pre-World Cup this year? This central defensive duo provided the solid platform on which our AFF Suzuki Cup success was built but they have not repeated that feat since. Perhaps the time has come to look at providing more protection for the defence in the way of changing from a primitive 4-4-2 to perhaps a more fluid 4-2-3-1. Playing with two central midfielders or two defensive midfielders would provide reassurance to the defence and also decrease the workload of the over-worked S. Kunalan. This young man has been a tireless worker albeit from a wide left midfield position and if he is allowed to expand more energy in attack, this formation will give our offensive players more space to exploit. In the last three matches, we have seen our most skilful and imaginative striker Norsharul Idlan Talaha struggle to form a partnership of any sort with Abdul Hadi Yahya or Ahmad Fakri Shaarani. The latter duo have been outstanding in the Super League but unfortunately seem to find the international arena a step too far at the moment. In lieu of that, perhaps Norsharul as the lone striker, not as a targetman but rather a "false number 9", could give the opposing central defenders a problem. With Singapore looming on the horizon and our team struggling to find form and fluidity, perhaps the change in formation rather than personnel could be the way. There is an opportunity tomorrow to try to change things against Liverpool and while we know where we stand in comparison, we should at least make the opponents work harder for their goals. The weekend also sees the quarterfinals of the Copa America with host Argentina taking on Uruguay in the Quarterfinal of Death, quite literally. The form of Argentina was turning into a joke but fortunately Sergio Batista, a hatchetman in his day, decided to take note of the obvious bleeding and made positive changes in their final group match against Costa Rica. A defeat against Uruguay would cull his tenure as national coach and up until the Costa Rica game, Diego Maradona was beginning to look better and better. The Brazilians, too, left it late in the group and finally looked sharp against Ecuador in their last group game. However, a rematch against Paraguay could still throw up some doubts. It was a last-gasp goal from Fred that enabled a 2-2 draw in their Group B clash and this quarterfinal could be more dramatic. The Colombia versus Peru clash is more difficult to predict as both teams seem a little alike in their approach of eking out results. And finally, the Chileans look red-hot favourites against Venezuela despite the Venezuelans dramatic 3-3 draw against Paraguay. The Chileans can defend better than Paraguay and look sharp in attack with Alexis Sanchez the obvious focal point. However, they could miss Jean Beausejour who has been in good form on the left flank. A red card against Peru will mean a reshuffle but expect Chile to make a date with Brazil in the semifinals. A super weekend of football is coming up with the US playing Japan in the Women's World Cup final in Germany on Sunday night. The match will be telecast live on Astro SuperSport 2, Channel 816 at 2.45am, Monday morning Malaysian time. The Americans played their worst game of the tournament in the semifinals against France but still won 3-1. They will face a Japanese team that outplayed Sweden in the other semi. The match will pit the physical power of the US against the technique and agility of Japan, thus making this a must-see Women's World Cup final. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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