Who let the dogs out?

Yesterday evening, I got a call to say someone in Putrajaya had lodged a police report against me, supposedly in relation to public statements i have made about 1,805 lives having been lost whilst in the custody of authorities here.

I immediately instructed solicitors who called the OCPD, Putrajaya, confirmed that such a police report had been made although he would not confirm what it related to, and then wrote to say that  I was ready, by prior appointment, to attend at their office to render my statement. My solicitors have yet to hear from the police on any appointed date.

A little later that same evening, I got another call to say that two dogs were barking incessantly in cyberspace about how I had been dishonest about the number of deaths in custody.

One, a highly obese, blubbered bitch, and the other a rabid canine of uncertain pedigree.

No one in cyberspace with any grey matter between their ears takes these two seriously, so i was just going to let it pass.

But then, their handler decided to get in on the act.

Yes, I mean Rocky, in his blog and in his government-controlled Malay Mail.

Now, not that anyone takes Rocky any more seriously than his two charges these days, but I figured, ‘What the hell, for old times sake’ so, here goes.

Rocky and flabby jowls ask questions.

“What kind of numbers are the people behind SABM trying to do and on whom? Where did they get their statistics from, anyway?”, Rocky asks, in his Malay Mail piece.

Blubber asks : “There is a serious deficit by another 1,696 deaths in custody for the same corresponding period, as claimed by Haris Ibrahim’s ‘Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia’. So where is this deficit is coming from? MACC/Immigration/Prisons? Or Henry Gurney school in Telok Mas, Melaka? Is it possible that Haris hallucinated these figures?”.

Now, lawyers learn very early in practise a cardinal rule of cross-examination : do  not ask the question the answer to which you do not already know.

In layman’s terms : DO NOT TEMBAK BUTA-BUTA.

The reason : because the unexpected answer may end up as mud on your face.

Rocky and flabby jowls also make assumptions.

In his blog post, Rocky surmises : “Even Haris is not so sure of it now as he asked The MM: “Let’s say the figures are wrong and it is only 15. Should we still not be concerned over 15 custodial deaths?”

You know what they say you make of yourself when you assume, don’t you, Rocky?

And once that perception sticks, it doesn’t matter what you drive, you just can’t shake it off!

You’re dead wrong, Rocky. Way off

Blubber : “We are assuming that the deaths are under custodian of the law enforcement agencies”.

Now, fat jowls got lucky.

His assumption was spot on.

Thing is, fat jowl’s lucky guess just serves to spotlight his  mischief and downright dishonesty and that of his handler in employing a technique that the French refer to as ‘legerdemain’.

When employed by magicians, this craft is referred to as the ‘sleight of the hand’.

In the hands of your average confidence trickster, its called plain, old, deception.

The other mutt was just plain dishonest.

Let me illustrate the craft employed by the first two by an examination of Rocky’s article in the Malay Mail.

“The Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia group, which started as a human rights movement but has since made forays into partisan politics, claimed last week that 1,805 people had died between 2003 and July last year in our remand cells, prisons and detention centres” , Rocky says.

See the spin that SABM is now inclined towards partisan politics?

You’re slacking, Rocky!

Now, in all my postings in this blog on this matter, I have alluded to ‘1,805 deaths in custody’ without specifying how many occurred in prison, in remand cells and detention centres. Search ‘1805’ in this blog to satisfy yourself.

Not once have I said that these deaths were at the hands of the police authorities.

And neither has SABM.

Three paragraphs down, this is what Rocky now writes :

“On the other hand, according to official statistics provided by our Home Ministry, 147 people have died in police custody in the last 10 years since May 2000. For this year, the number of deaths in police custody is three so far. The highest in a year is 23 in 2003”.

And two paragraphs down, he brings the legedermain technique into play and asks :

“Which makes one wonder: What kind of numbers are the people behind SABM trying to do and on whom? Where did they get their statistics from, anyway?”.

See how he conveniently glosses over the 1,805 people had died … in our remand cells, prisons and detention centres that he earlier attributed to SABM, ties that figure with the official statistics of 147 deaths in police custody, and then posits his question to suggest that we have claimed the number of 1,805 deaths as being at the hands of the police.

Read Flabby jowls post and you find he adopts the same modus.

The other deranged mongrel simply lies through his teeth and asserts that “Haris has been openly selling the notion that 1,805 people had died in police custody since 2003 when the actual number is one tenth of the allegation”.

“…Have you any knowledge with you so you should bring it forth to us? You only follow a conjecture and you only tell lies” : Surah 6 verse 148 of the Holy Qur’an.

I’ve got to ask, Rocky, where you and your sidekicks get your figures for 2004 and 2006? Did you guys find 3 bodies under your desks and decided to stick it on the cops?

What was that about playing around with numbers?

Rocky suggests in his Malay Mail article that the number 1805 has been cooked up by, amongst others, SABM.

You want to know where we got our statistics, Rocky?

You ready for mud in your face?

Rocky, talk is cheap.

Want to put some of your UMNO money where your lying mouth is?

Tell you what, Rocky.

Take out your cheque book, make out a sum of RM50,000 to SABM as a token solatium for your sullying their good name, and I will give you the full breakdown of how the number 1,805 is arrived at, source reference and all.

That exercise, though, might prove me wrong.

The number might even be higher. By about 2.

Although I half suspect you already know this.

Go on, make my day, Rocky.

As for that rabid canine, go read this book and when you think you’ve  understood enough, read it again and and again and again…

Posted in: Digressions