Are Malaysian pathologists and coroners competent?

COMMENT | They say that dead men tell no tales, but a competent forensic pathologist can tell us how a man died: the cause of death, both the good and bad effects of the treatment he received, the reasons behind the symptoms shown near the end of his life, and any discrepancies between the pre-mortem and post-mortem results. Facts do not lie. The operative word here is "competent".

Sometimes, it is not just the haze from forest fires that clouds our vision and chokes us. Our politics, and policies with racial and religious undertones, also damage our health and emotional well-being. We lose our ability to reason. We become emotionally intemperate.

While we have the utmost respect for the judiciary and the coroner's court, some of us strongly disagree with the coroner's verdict that states firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim's death was the result of a criminal act by two or three unidentified assailants.

Seafield was teeming with rioters on the night Adib (above) was injured. How was the magic number of two or three reached? Victims of assault are normally cut, bruised and swollen, but Adib's face, arms and torso were relatively blemish-free...