By Sam Trailerman
So finally it happened again. 12 of them. Not 1, not 2. Twelve police officers and personnel, some more with pangkat besar — DSP, ASP, you know, the ones with the shiny stars or crowns that make ordinary folks like us automatically stand straight when we see them at roadblock. They got detained. Why? For allegedly trying to squeeze RM2 million from one Chinese national. RM2 million. Like he is some bank.
And the best part? The man only got his freedom back after he paid around RM560,000. Half a million plus. Paid first, then only allowed to go to Dang Wangi police station to lodge a report. Imagine that. You get robbed, and to complain about the robbery, you have to pay the robbers first. Only in Bolehland you can find this premium package.
I read this news while having my teh tarik at the mamak, and the whole shop went silent for a second, then everybody started shaking their head. We are not shocked because we are naive. We are heartbroken because deep inside, we still want to believe. We tell our children, if anything happens, go find polis. Polis will help. Now how to say that line with a straight face?
Look, I am not saying all polis are bad. I know many of them are good guys. Standing in the hot sun, rain, traffic jam, handling accident, handling drunken people at 3AM. Salary not big, duty long. We respect those ones. We really do.
But these 12? These special selected ones? Wah, you all really made it. You took an oath to protect the people, to uphold the law, and you used that same uniform to do what? To become loan sharks with IC and handcuffs? To become kidnappers with government salary? RM2 million demand, who taught you guys negotiation skills? Too much watching Netflix?
You know what is the most insulting part? You all thought you could get away. You thought because you wear blue, because you have rank, because the victim is a foreigner who maybe won't dare to speak up you all can just close the case with money inside your pocket. That is not just corrupt, that is cowardly. You bully because you think nobody will back him up. Shame. Real shame on you.
And now when netizens scold, some people will say, "Don't generalize, don't hate PDRM." Eh, nobody hates the whole force lah. We are angry because we love the force. If your house got 12 rotten apples, you don't say "all apples are rotten." You throw the 12 away fast-fast before the whole basket smells. That's what we are asking.
We common people, we live by law. We get saman RM300 for not wearing seatbelt, we pay. We get saman for expired roadtax one day, we pay. We steal RM50 from 7-Eleven, we go to jail and our photo goes viral. But when a man in uniform allegedly extorts half a million, we are supposed to stay calm and wait for "internal investigation"? No. The law must be same. If anything, it must be heavier for them. Because when a thief steals, he betrays a person. When a cop steals, he betrays the whole country.
Yes, good job to the team who arrested them. Seriously, thank you. And I heard some of the money was recovered. Good. But don't stop there. We have seen this story before. Big headlines for two days, then quiet. Then transfer here, transfer there. Then the case becomes cold like leftover roti canai. We don't want that.
We want it open. Transparent. No cover. No "eh, they are our people." Charge them exactly like you would charge me if I locked someone in a room and demanded RM2 million. Is that kidnapping? Is that extortion? Is that criminal intimidation? Then charge that.
We ordinary people are not asking for special treatment. We just want to feel safe again when we see a police car behind us, not scared. We want our kids to wave at the policeman, not hide behind us. That trust, once broken, is very expensive to repair more expensive than RM560,000.
So to those 12, if you are reading this from the lockup how does it feel? How does it feel to sit on the other side? The handcuffs you used to put on others, now on your own hands. Nice? The uniform you used to scare people with, now taken away.
You wanted to be rich quickly. Now you are famous quickly. Congratulations.
Nganasegaran (tapessam@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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