Hall of Shame: Malaysian Police

Here's a gem I stumbled upon in today's paper, which I felt was worth copying and pasting for posterity:

Cop vs cops in Gemas station

By SARBAN SINGH

GEMAS: A policeman has lodged a report against all his colleagues including his superiors allegedly over dissatisfaction on how the monthly bribes from those operating illegal activities was being distributed.

In retaliation, one of his superiors, a sergeant, lodged another police report against the policeman, a lance corporal, for allegedly selling station property to scrap dealers.

A source said the lance corporal, in his 40s, was dissatisfied with his superiors for allegedly taking the lion’s share of the bribes while the rank and file received very little.

“In fact, the complainant claimed that he did not get a sen,” the source said.

The report was lodged earlier this week.

The sergeant, in an apparent tit-for-tat, lodged another report against the lance corporal alleging that he had sold some old wooden and iron furniture from the police station to a dealer.

“His colleagues even know where the dealer is operating from,” the source said.

State police chief Datuk Osman Salleh confirmed that a report has been lodged.

“We are investigating the claims made by the lance corporal. We do not want to make conclusions straightaway as the allegations are serious,” he said.

He said all the policemen were still on duty and have not been asked to go on leave.

He said action would be taken against his men if the claims were true.

It is understood that the Anti-Corruption Agency has also started a probe.

Now, all that having been said, I know how much these poor buggers earn, having had the oppurtunity on the job to review in great details their bank loans. Simply put, they get paid peanuts. As a fresh associate starting out in a Big 4 accounting firm in Malaysia, you will get paid more than double what your average boy-in-blue-for-the-past-3-years will earn.

Think about it: Fresh white collar warrior, qualified to do meaningless research, photocopy, sort files and generally handle the menial tasks that none of the seniors could be bothered to do, all from the air-conditioned comfort of an office tower deep in the city versus men and women in ill-fitting uniforms, patrols in the burning Malaysian sun, high ideals clashing with cruel realities, facing down knives, guns, parangs, cleaning up the filth society leaves behind because not enough people cared.

I've been the white collar warrior before. That paycheck really doesn't go very far in KL. I could ask that one spares a thought for that guy who earns less than half of what I did. Look at this article. Look what they've become. This is the world Malaysians have made for themselves. Malaysia boleh, indeed.

All the skyscrapers, bridges, highways and shopping malls Malaysians are so enamoured with are utterly worthless compared to the breathtaking triumph of society that is a few honest cops.