Guest Editorial: Dominic Damian's experience with the MCMC

Dominic Damian

I am not perched on the heights of a hill or a golden gilded cage opulence or extravagance. I am no more than those mired in humility of grappling and groping for a path out of impoverished mud of life. I can’t lay claim sufficiently to adequacy of academics, or sobriety of being scholarly, and possessing illusional intellectualism which are very frail, fragile and fragmented without a speck of wisdom or the dust of knowledge. It is to be considered no more than: 

·      The seed that a farmer sows on the fields of life or 

·      The net a fisherman cast in the seas among the strident waves or clashing winds

·      Nor the simplicity of innocent folk in the wilderness scrounging for fruits or hunting for daily sustenance.

All these that I mention have more hope than my thoughts. I am grounded in such pragmatism, so I beg the favor and indulgence to excuse and exclude me from conventions. When I posses a thought or opinion of value I will submit it for conscientious consumption of consideration on the worth that it provides benefits

On Wednesday April 24th 2024 three officers from MCMC accompanied by two officers from PDRM, were at my residence at approximately 2.15 pm. I am placing the sequence of events in order to express what transpired. I was informed that this was due to a post that was uploaded on 5th April 2024. The post is here. 

https://x.com/jan_1513/status/1776134186648338736 

https://twitter.com/jan_1513/status/1776134186648338736

This post as far as I can interpret to my perception or conscience is in no way racial in nature. This post was incidentally forwarded to PDRM as well for action. The intention is that action should be taken against the perpetrator of the deed. However, the MCMC officers have asserted and insisted that the post is racist and as such deemed and defined as  offensive and they are acting based on complaints.

The MCMC officers requested that I follow them to IPD Sentul to have my statement taken and nothing else- this is what I was given to understand.

I was at IPD Sentul at approximately 2.30 pm. At the station, they enquired if I had my phone. It was then I realized that my phone was inadvertently left wherever I was sitting when I took out my identification documents. My wife was accompanied by one of the officers to retrieve my phone. In the meantime, they proceeded to take my statement. I was flabbergasted and befuddled at the process or procedure. It was however a cordial two-way street communication and I must state a healthy respectful exchange.

·        I asked the MCMC officer if I could record the process down, since they are recording me. They responded that it is not allowed.

·        The MCMC officer enquired about my qualifications. I expressed it.

·        They enquired if I did the posting and there was an admission that it was from me.

·        I asked the MCMC officer as to why my posting was being selected and targeted, given the fact that:

1.      It has been reported on the online news portals including FMT.

2.    It was stated that the suspect was apprehended due in some part to the coverage volume.

The following is what was expressed in various online news portals.

http://malaysiansmustknowthetruth.blogspot.com/2024/04/cops-nab-lorry-driver-for-destroying.html?m=1

https://www.scoop.my/news/185588/perak-cops-arrest-35-year-old-man-over-datuk-gong-shrine-desecration/

https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2024/04/07/cops-nab-lorry-driver-for-destroying-perak-temple-statues/

·        There was a media posting from PDRM establishing the facts.

·        That I had sent it in the social media platform and to PDRM as well

·        The salient conscientious point of contention was: why am I being subject to the process of providing a statement, when the news portals and whoever else who has reported it is not undergoing or subject to the same procedure.

·        No direct answer from the MCMC officer other than the fact that they are integrity officers who impartially have to act across the board against whoever.

·        My rebuttal or objection on this point was: that an ex-pm from jail can post anything, and there are highly placed political individuals who are posting contentious toxic divisive content and they seem to be footloose, fancy and free. Why is that allowed? The response is that each of the MCMC officers were looking at the other. I can conclude that some points have no answers, not due to the MCMC officers lack of knowledge but due to flaws in the system.

·        One MCMC officer explained that I should have taken this up with the authorities concerned instead of posting it on a social media platform as the authorities do their work in silence. 

·        I expressed that there is a general trust deficit as there are persons in the security and government apparatuses that abuse their power. There are quite a few instances where the security institutions have not used their power with responsibility. I cited some instances. What about those who desecrate places of worship and are termed as mentally ill? We as citizens are highlighting the criminality and yet in the end we are inconvenienced and treated shabbily. Where is the justice? If the innocent voice for the voiceless is shut, there will be no one left to speak for anyone. No real response here from the MCMC officers.

·        I further requested for details on which party or parties may have lodged the complaint. The MCMC officer replied that they can’t divulge such information.

·        I expressed that this really places me at a disadvantage as anyone can lodge a complaint. How does one qualify a complaint and frame it as valid or qualified under a specific category. How precisely or specifically is this posting related to a race issue as there is nothing written about race.

·        My phone was in my possession by then. They enquired for the date of the post and they managed to retrieve the information and trace it down to the 5th of April 2024. No issue at all, with this, as it is straight forward. 

·        Now this was the stinker and shocker of a sucker punch that caught me off guard: the MCMC officer expressed that my phone would be confiscated for forensics. I was obviously taken aback and enquired why they needed my phone when they obviously have all the information and I have admitted without hesitation that this is my post. I am not denying or contesting anything here!

·        The MCMC officer expressed that this is part and parcel of their statement taking process or procedures! 

·        I expressed in return that this is a dishonorable act of deception. From what I am given to believe or understand, I was given specific assurances that this was supposed to be a simple act of taking a statement and nothing more. This seems to have evolved and expanded beyond the intended scope of what was expressed to me.

·        I was asked to sign and initial the document the statement that was completed by MCMC. Given the fact that my phone was taken away or sized illegally, the internal warning bells within me rang and informed me that I was neither safe nor secure, in this situation. This compelled or motivated me not to sign the statement especially without a lawyer present. 

·        The MCMC officer requested if I could secure the services of a lawyer within a short time frame and I expressed to him that it was not possible. I explained they had my phone, and lawyers are not available at one’s beck and call. The MCMC officer fortunately acceded and accepted that this was not a reasonable expectation.

·        My wife who was present placed an objection and expressed that all my medical data and hospital appointments were in the device. 

·        The main officer with MCMC was kind enough to save the data on iCloud. This definitely is a saving grace.

I am looking at this whole episode to introspectively search and have the following thoughts.

Without hesitation I express that despite the negatives or my disadvantageous position, the MCMC officers exercised dignified restraint and their conduct or decorum was courteous and polite at all times. One would equate it as a friendly banter at a coffee shop. There was never a moment of pressure or stress felt. I must commend them for their professional disposition. The PDRM inspectors as well were sensitive and did display great civility. I have not mentioned any names here, as I feel the officers concerned were doing their as specified, to the best of their ability. There should be no negatives towards them. I felt no animosity whatsoever towards either the PDRM or MCMC officers.    

Introspectively looking at this impartially from a citizen’s point of view, my concern:

·        The inference of a well-designed law formulated with noble intention of purpose and meaning that embodies the true spirit of justice will not wound goodness.

·        If the constitution of a law in its construction is contrived to protect governance, the powers to be or the elite far more in excess than the ordinary citizens, it is questionable.

·        If the law is embedded with elements of ambiguity where it lacks clarity and gives rise to misinterpretation, misrepresentation, confusion, controversy, contradictions, confrontation and is constrictive, repressive, suppressive and divides - it is most certainly flawed. If one who is especially presumed to be innocent, has to fight such laws through a time consuming and expensive judicial process, it is very clear where the disadvantage lies.

·        If laws impose itself in impalement where it neuters one’s independence, castrates one’s impartiality and renders impotent the integrity, whereby it disarms and disables the intuitive goodness of one’s conscience- it is an intrusion and invasion of evil in small steps under the guise of laws.

·        Even the very best, will on dictates of obedience will follow the law as they would have no choice but to adhere to the law. Even one that is faulty. In the beleaguered battlefield of life obedience to the dictates of the law even if they batter, bruise, pulverize or crush the conscience is of little consequence. This essentially may be the implosive destruction of the human spirit inflicting upon each the dark night upon the soul. One must never be indoctrinated or brainwashed into accepting that an unjust law is preeminent or precedes the conscience.

·        If laws enslave and have the potential to destroy one’s conscience and its consequential byproduct is to dismantle the sensitivity of rational, reasoning and logic. It encourages and enables treacherous and treasonous conduct that inevitably harms one’s fellow citizens without due process of diligence. The checks and balances are inadequate and incompetent.

·        Is it not a betrayal of all the life formations from the root family with religious values? What more when one has to extract, excavate or extricate what are ageless heritage and traditional timeless values and replace them to the tyrannical dictates of draconian laws. One is submitting and relinquishing the gracious liberties that make them human.

·        Are these ambiguous laws conceived and constructed inevitably by the elite few to protect them from the restlessness of the righteous? 

·        One should also recognize that the MCMC are funded by the Malaysian taxpayers and should never be used indiscriminately against the citizens.

·        If there is true power, it would have the majesty of chivalry, magnificence in valor, and the spirit of nobility to distinguish the chaff from the corn of citizens who want to advance the nation with their activism. Laws that have suppressive or repressive elements which plainly affect the common citizens must be reformed or renovated. Our voices can’t carte blanche be held hostage to be ransomed by our silence.

·        The connation or insinuation that I posted something racial is to imply my character is deformed or depreciated. This is unacceptable defilement, and defamation of my person. It cast doubts, tarnishes and subversively undermines who and what I am,        

It was disappointing that a prominent blogger from Bersatu was in handcuffs for a posting, how can that ever be considered criminal? Will we see more of this? I don’t know! But there is a worrying trend.

To my utter surprise or amazement, I received my phone on the 30^th April 2024 at IPD Sentul from the MCMC officers concerned to collect my phone. This was actually within a seven-day period.

Dominic Damian

Dad, Composer, Writer, Poet, Musician, Artist, Social Activist, Naturalist, Adventurer, Music Educationist- Author of 4 books of poems, composer of 2 original albums.

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