Joe Kidd: Cut ’em out (ride ’em in), Ride ’em in (cut ’em out), Cut ’em out (ride ’em in), Rawhide!

This morning a busker + singer-songwriter friend of ours was finally released under bail after spending 3 nights and 2 days at a Polis lock-up. He was detained under the suspicion of being a drug-user. read more about the case here: Troubadours

Yeah, it’s the same old story when it comes to my circle of friends and their constant involuntary interactions with the “law”. It’s always based on the “suspicion” on getting high. Nothing else. Not murder, not rape, not robbery nor it’s because we were kickboxing in the streets. Nope. It’s always about dope.

I myself have been stopped and bundled onto trucks under the same “probability” clause many, many times. Twice a whole lorry load of us were taken from Central Market and brought to the Polis HQ near Pudu Jail. There they treated us all like monkeys – a pack of Neanderthals in uniforms bullying a bunch of scowling but powerless little kids.

They “asked” some of us to dance for their entertainment. And when we just stand there, they yelled profanities and threats. Some would be scared enough to tip-toe and dance. Or sing. “Oh, you look like you wanna be a rock star! OK, come here, sing a song for me.”

Or stand on one leg. Or do the now infamous “ear squats”. Some would be asked to slap each other. “You slap like a pondan! Harder!” Some officers would be inquiring whether this kid would have a sister they can try their luck on. Some would take away your pack of cigarettes and put it in their poskets. All the while they will be mocking us, making fun of whatever it was which they find funny. And it’s not funny.

With these Neanderthals, everything they are not familiar with is funny. It’s not just your hairstyle, your torn jeans or the way that kid is cowering in fear and pissing his pants. Wearing flip-flops is funny. Wearing shorts is funny. “Is it flooding in town now? Hahahhaahahahah.” And having your hair long is always a crime. And so some would have their hair shorn off.

I was lucky. I have never been drug-tested (apart from when I was entering Singapore that is). Which means that I was never held there for more than a day. But what they would do is subject you to all these humiliation, have you standing still for hours and then let you off at about 2 or 3 AM. There would not be any bus at that time in the morning. And of course, we can never afford a cab. They wanna us all to walk home. And so we walked, with the theme “All Coppers Are Bastards” accompanying us all the way.

But why? Well, don’t ask me. It’s a mystery that has never been solved really. A case that has never been closed but has never been interrogated and dissected proper. All I can offer is the fact that we all didn’t look like a bunch of kids that would be future polis-men. None of us parted our hair on the side fr’instance, nor did we have a moustache, high-blood pressure, diabetes, bills and beer-guts.

I think that’s the only plausible reason. It’s pure jealousy.

And of course, there is this other factor which would play a big role. It’s called “quota”. My dictionary says that “quota” is “a limited or fixed number or amount of people or things”. A set number that has to be met. Okay, periodically, the Polis force at any station will be asked to go out and haul people up. Just go and grab anyone off the streets until this “quota” is reached.

Lets say we are officers at the Dang Wangi station. Things are chilling. Nothing to do. A directive would come from above to detain 150 people, per day. Why? Well, some big event is happening in town and WE MUST HAVE THE CITY CLEAN! And so, beside the city council people boarding up the view on the highway (so tourists would not see the slums on the other side), off we go and try to fill up those numbers. First we may go for the obvious, the known drug-users at some known backstreets. Chow Kit. Jalan Alor.

Okay, but the quota’s not reached. So how? The kids. There are thousands of them! An endless pool ripe for the quota! Rich pickings for those who are looking forward to going home early!! Those young ‘uns who are hanging out having quality lepak time while we are all working our arses off trying to get our wives that Amway cutlery. They are mocking us those louts! All of them, dang sampah-masyarakats! Grab them, haul them by the ear and push them up our lorries! Hahahahaha! We’ll show them who have bigger dicks than our superiors!!!

Gawd. I can’t help it. I’ve resorted to profanities there. Sorry for the bombast too, but this is happening daily. Day in, day out. Everywhere. I’ve experienced it again and again back when I was still thinking that mustachios are funny. Now, you kids are going through the same circus. And we are not even touching upon the more serious and lethal atrocities taking place with these goons in uniforms. People die in their custody. And that is according to the newspapers. And knowing what our newspapers are like, what about the ones that went unreported?

On that note, I just wanna tell you people to be careful these days. The Asean Summit is happening soon, and whenever that sort of thing is happening in the city, the inevitable CLEAN UP will be on and of course, the QUOTA is waiting to be filled. I’m sure my singer-songwriter friend was picked up because of this. He was actually stopped, checked and urine-tested THREE times last week alone!

And yes, you people may have known that the “logam hitam” show in Seremban was raided, with more than 100 kids detained by the polis. Another friend of mine is still there now. In the lock-up. And yes, he has long-hair and likes wearing shorts. This Thursday, some of my friends will be heading south and bail him out. Until then, my thought is with him and I hope he’s alright.

download this pdf to know more on
Buku Panduan Kematian Dalam Tahanan Pihak Berkuasa

END.

BTW: hugs to all who chipped in to bail out our busker friend earlier today. thanks goes to seihon, jerome, rahmat, black, azmyl, i-lann, the troubadours show, farah, and more. this is what the community and the scene is all about. “one for all, and all for one,” sounds cheesy, but hey! cheese is good and them musketeers have pert bottoms and are the very sexy!

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for a good write up on this current “logam hitam” hoo-haa:

FreeMuse

for a hilariously moronic standard of “journalism”:

pick up any local newspaper “reporting” on the “logam hitam” hooo-haaa