The home minister has supervised the recall of all extant copies of the April 16 issue of Time magazine. He says this was done to protect Muslims from an insult to Islam. He said a "caricature" of the Prophet which appears in the issue was the rationale behind the recall.

The URL for the internet April 16 issue of Time is:

http://www.time.com/time/asia/archive/

Click on the April 16 issue. One finds there another article which immediately attracts attention. It is this article which is perhaps the true reason the home minister feels the recall necessary.

The article is entitled:

ASIA
"MALAYSIA: Beat Cops
The country's controversial police force faces criticism
and possible censure for repeated brutalities."

There is a subtitle, "Policing the police." The story details the testimony given by witnesses to the Human Rights Commission. A very descriptive passage recites the events that surrounded the police killing of five Indians said to be involved in a kidnapping. The incident occurred on October 2, 1998. The suspects included a woman eight months pregnant who was shot in the head by members of the UTK special team.

Another incident of police killing occurred the following night in Kelantan, in which six Indians were stopped by the police on a darkened road and subsequently shot in the head. Local witnesses, when interviewed privately, stated the police version of the story is a cover-up, and the events did not occur as reported by the police. They report an ambush. They say the Tumpat police arrived five minutes after the actual killers had left the scene, while at the Coroner's inquest the Tumpat police stated they were the killers.

The details of the two incidents have a greater similarity than just the killing of all Indian witnesses by the police. They were all killed by shots to the head. In both instances the police said that shots were fired at them, thus providing a justification of self-defense. In both cases the police stated that guns were found at the scene.

In both cases there are witnesses who state they believe the guns were planted by the police after the killings, and no shots were fired by the victims. They say they do not trust the police, and will only testify if a Royal Commission of Inquiry is appointed to investigate the circumstances. In the Tumpat case the police admit it was a case of mistaken identity. In the other incident the police insist a minister's was son actually kidnapped. The public has begun to suspect another sandiwara was orchestrated to divert attention from the Anwar affair.

To remove a magazine from the newstands is merely another method of censorship. The home minister appears to be grasping at a straw to cover his lie. Recently other instances of official harassment of international magazines have occurred, and it appears the government is both attempting to hide embarrassing secrets and punish those who attempt to make the truth known.

The government repeatedly says the foreign media prints "lies and slander." But when the subjects are brought forward for investigation the government does not counter with their explanation of events, they retreat into official silence, leaving the public to believe the worst.

There can be no denial that the article contains the true facts of the events reported because everything was taken from the transcript of the testimony given openly by witnesses at the recent hearings held by the Human Rights Commission.

Malaysia is in the midst of an economic crisis that is certain to deteriorate. The present government has no credibility, and cannot tell the truth about any issue regardless of its significance. In the eyes of the world Malaysia has no stature. None.

The judiciary struggles for dignity. Malaysia has a judge-prosecutor team presently doing a re-play of the Anwar circus trial. Same judge. Same prosecutor. The judge wants to know who engaged the lawyers for the defense. They should have no lawyers appearing in his court to defend them because the police have assured him they have not been allowed to speak to anyone. They are not to appear before him in open court. A writ of habeas corpus to "bring forth the body" is denied because the police feel it is unnecessary. The judge agrees. The wives and children disagree. The people of Malaysia disagree.

The judge apparently feels the defendants are not entitled to a lawyer. The prosecutor objects to bringing the defendants into the light of day. The families cry out for reassurance their husbands and fathers are in good health. The police are obdurate, turning a deaf ear.

The people watch in wonderment, waiting for higher judges to intervene in this travesty. Do they require a written request? The world wonders whether Alice in Wonderland is a real story or something a mathematician made up to entertain his niece. Malaysia is the material for more merriment, more wonder, more amazement. As theatre it has everything. One must be present to appreciate burlesque. This burlesque is serious and cruel.

Why then does the home minister try to fool the public with this childish stunt? The Malaysian people are thoroughly tired of being taken for fools. The home minister is in the parallel position of deputy prime minister, in training to replace the fatuous old fop who flagged him.

He wants to be prime minister, but who has confidence in a man who cannot tell the truth? Let him now give his apology to Time magazine, and pay them for their losses. If he cannot do that he is no man. No man at all.

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