I’m accused of encouraging voyeurism
Wednesday, 28-12-2005
by Andrew Ong, malaysiakini, Dec 28.
The parliamentarian who shook the nation when she exposed a video of alleged police abuse is under fire for her efforts again. This time she is accused of encouraging voyeurism.
Umno Kemaman MP Ahmad Shabery Cheek ticked off Seputeh MP Teresa Kok for revealing in Parliament the controversial video clip of a naked women forced to perform squats in the nude by the police.
The 71-second video footage was taken through a grilled window of a police locker room allegedly by a cop using a mobile phone.
“I cannot imagine the feeling of the Malay woman (in the video) and her family after being shamed like that by Teresa (Kok) when the nude video was shown publicly,” said Shabery, adding that Kok publicised the matter for political mileage instead of trying to resolve it with the police in private.
“People who enjoy voyeurism are people with mental problems and this should be addressed by politicians like Teresa … (she should) not encourage this type of practice,” he added according to a Dec 26 Utusan Malaysia report.
Pay damages
Shabery, who is also Umno Terengganu information chief, called for Kok to pay damages to the woman for bringing shame to her and her family.
The video sparked public outrage over the treatment of police detainees and has also prompted an ondependent inquiry on the matter.
Shabery’s comments come two weeks after a group of Umno senators and MPs criticising Kok and parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang over the exposé.
Contacted yesterday, Lim retorted that Shabery was being “inconsistent” and showed no real concern for the plight of the woman in the video.
“He had said nothing regarding the person who took the video (the voyeur) and he did not show outrage over the treatment of the woman by the police (when the video was first exposed),” added Lim.
“If he was really concerned about shame brought upon the woman, he should be asking for compensation from various media organisations (for publicising the incident),” said Lim.
Kok was not available for comments as she is presently overseas.
This is really ackward? Can we please link this to BBC? The world should see how our chief ministers reacts. We’ll continue to be the laughing stock. Sure, our country image will plummel. But is there any other way for change to happen?
Comment by CALA1900 — Wednesday, 28-12-2005 @ 22: 30.08
It seem strange to me that despite the obviously correct thing that MP Teresa Kok has done in bringing this outrageous abuse of human rights to the attention of Parliamentarians in Parliament, there are still cretins in UMNO who are deliberately blind to reality and chooses to shoot the messenger of bad news instead. It absolutely does not matter whether the poor victim of the squat-gate incident was a Chinese national or a Malay lady. What has transpired is the unacceptable conduct of the Police in their handling of the arrested female as has been testified by the outcry from Malaysians of all walks of life, including Barisan ministers.
And now, we have an UMNO member of Parliament having the cheek (pardon the pun) to make wild accusations against Teresa Kok, the so-called whistle blower of the squatgate incident, merely for political grand-standing reasons. Instead of feeling outrage for the poor Malay Muslim female for being subjected to such outrageous, humiliating and unIslamic treatment by the Police, and trying to seek justice from the wrong-doers, here we have an UMNO MP
who does not know the trees from the woods demanding compensation from Teresa, the first and only MP who brought the matter into the open. With UMNO MPs such as this idiot, is it any wonder that I may even vote for PAS at the next general election? Perhaps even a candidate such as Anwar Ibrahim may not be so bad afterall!
MP Ahmad Shabery Cheek, where were you when your boss, PM Ahmad Abdullah Badawi instructed everybody to shut up and await the findings of the Commission of Inquiry on this matter? Perhaps you have other more insidious political agenda afoot?
Advice to PM - Watch your back! Caeser did not and see what happened to Caeser!
Comment by kopimelaka — Thursday, 29-12-2005 @ 00: 57.38
Teresa, you a voyeur….HAHAHAHAHA…cannot believe it for a fraction of a second. Maybe Shabery wants to play Jose Mourinho (calling Arsene Wenger a “voyeur” in EPL mind game”.
I glanced at the papers and I don’t think that is porn material. Put it among the videos in a foreign sex toy shop and it will not sell half a tape!
It is so clear to us, repeated so many times that it is a non-racial, human-rights, wrong-exposing exercise.
I am not worried about one person’s opinion (in fact we should respect his right of freedom of speech, although we disagree with him) but I am more worried about how many people out there agree with him.
The eyes of the owrld are upon us and at least we should be seen/heard to be rational and reflective!
Comment by lee wee tak — Thursday, 29-12-2005 @ 07: 59.25
This is silly.
The UMNO MPs are clearly scouring for openings to score brownie points. If Teresa is really indicted, we should bring this issue to international attention, showing them how our government officials are trying to silence an opposition MP who tried to improve a perceived flaws in the police force.
Teresa Kok, you have our support!
Seeing DAP’s sincerity and active engagement on many issues, I am moved to rally for the support of DAP in the next coming election.
BN with the likes of Shabby Chick really turn me off.
Their calling for legal action against someone who speaks for the people only serve to distance the people away. DAPs on the other hand are moving closely with the people. Which one would the people vote for? If the people are properly informed, the answer should be obvious.
Comment by AdmiralChengHo — Thursday, 29-12-2005 @ 08: 52.30
I’m worried that the 71-second video footage (before you exposed it) had been sold or passed from the cop’s cellphone into the hands of porn makers who gladly inserted it (foc, mah) into their porn films they were producing.
Probably these illegal DVDs had already been in circulation in the market and could even been found at the pasar malam.
If that hypocrite Ahmad Shabery was so concerned for the welfare of the girl, he should ask the porn makers to give royalties to the girl.
If no money is forthcoming, habislah, rugi banyak for the girl.
Kesian the girl for doing it for free.
Comment by cashanson — Thursday, 29-12-2005 @ 13: 54.30
Teresa, you have been voted “Woman of the Year” by this writer. Read this. http://www.mggpillai.com/sections.php3?op=viewarticle&artid=13482
Comment by tony — Thursday, 29-12-2005 @ 21: 31.46
What Ahmad is saying is something like this. Imagine this scenario:
A woman is being raped and the sction is video taped and circulated. A concerned MP brings it up in Parliament. Now Ahmad is saying that this MP had insulted the dignity of the rape victim by circulating the video. He is not concerned about the rapist or the cameraman. He wants the rape victim to sue the MP, not the rapist!
Now tell me, do you think this Ahmad guy is mentally deranged.
Comment by tony — Thursday, 29-12-2005 @ 21: 36.59
In keeping with the Malaysia Boleh spirit we have idiots and cheap publicity seekers like Senator Syed Ali Alhabshee & MP Ahmad Shabery Chik making such stupid comments to show the world that we have IDIOTS for MP an Senators. Teresa is , you are definately right in exposing such blatant abuse of power by the police. If not such incident will just be swept under the carpet as if it didn’t happened. As if we could trust our BN backed news daily like the STAR, Utusan, NST etc to exposed such incidents.
Sigh…! with our country being run by these people , no wonder we are so far behind compare to our neighbor in Singapore. YES and I say it again Singapore is much advance than us in many sense. This is the reality my fellow Malaysian
Comment by Dragon — Saturday, 31-12-2005 @ 08: 33.47
the nude ear squat should’ve been done by shabery chik’s mother, wife and daugther together with him. we’ll see who he’ll ask for damages….
Comment by pri — Sunday, 15-01-2006 @ 08: 26.41
I support your decision, Ms. Kok. People in a position of authority to get things done and make changes happen sometimes have to hear/see the graphic details of the truth. They have to have something to base their actions on or they can’t take appropriate action. Your decision was the right one for making this world a better place, even if the only way to do that was to take an action that would have been “voyeuristic” in any other context.
Showing video footage of a crime to your neighbors: voyeuristic.
Showing video footage of a crime to a national parliament: responsible.
Comment by Katie — Tuesday, 19-09-2006 @ 22: 54.24