Double standards in outrage over photos of US abuse of Iraqis

It is interesting to see Wong Sulong of The Star (4 May) taking a position of outrage and self-righteousness over the pictures depicting appalling US abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

The Star also carried an uncritical report of similar comments by Abdullah Badawi, who said that there was no excuse for what happened. "We cannot accept it and there is no justification at all for such inhumane treatment of the Iraqi prisoners," said the PM.

Such comments are of course principled IF the person making them adopts a consistent stand on human rights violations wherever they occur.

What has The Star (and the PM) got to say about human rights violations and cases of abuse and degrading treatment of remand prisoners and ISA detainees in Malaysia? What is The Star's stand on the torture and abuse of Malaysian detainees and prisoners as recorded in these articles: Screaming in the Night, Abuse of Power under the ISA, and Policing the Police? ISA detainees have also complained that they were forced to simulate sexual acts or treated in a cruel, degrading and inhuman manner.

In a statement yesterday, Keadilan deputy president Dr Syed Husin Ali said:

"Well said Mr. Prime Minister! But are you going to do anything about the brutal and inhuman treatment of Malaysian prisoners by the Malaysian police under your own ministry? Your criticisms of the US and Britain will sound hollow if you do not follow them up with appropriate actions on happenings behind our own backyard.

"This year two persons have died while under police custody. One person, Francis G Udayappan disappeared after being arrested and questioned by the police. The police claimed he had escaped from custody, but his family members are convinced that he has died and that the police are trying to cover up the truth on the circumstances of his death."

Not a word of this was reported in the so-called "People's Paper."

The Star's outrage over the cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners appears to be confined to human rights violations outside Malaysia. In contrast, when prisoners/detainees are tortured or treated in a degrading manner on Malaysian soil, the Malaysian mainstream media's silence has been deafening.