I wish to highlight the apparent unfairness of how the Malaysian police and our justice system work. I read with concern and trepidation of murderers well connected to high places, as the Seremban incident attests to, and how they could bend the law to suit their own purposes like obtaining bail for a non-bailable offence.

Similarly, it is very alarming to see and hear how the police of this nation, the so-called guardians of our civil society, act and conduct themselves in a very shameful manner. This is, I believe is due to the conditioning and moulding of these institutions into regimented yes-men and nincompoops of the ruling elite who have entirely forgotten the meaning and essence of the running and conduct of a civilised, democratic nation.

A case in point here is of a 12-year-old girl who was beaten to a pulp, with injuries all over her body created by hot iron marks and her front teeth broken by a chapati-roller, allegedly by a prominent surgeon's wife in Melaka in early 1999. The alleged aggressor was only charged in June 1999, four months after her parents made the report and requested for help from a DAP state assembly representative.

But surprisingly, until today, the case is still pending before the court. In fact, the number of postponements far exceeds the number of actual hearings that have taken place. Clearly, there is something strange going on as the Sharma Shukla case came up at almost the same time and has now been concluded. I simply see no sense as to why a simple straightforward case of child abuse can be prolonged for two years without an end in sight.