[1] A policeman’s daughter

One day, the superior tells him, ‘listen this is my 25 year old daughter. I want you to send her home safely to her mother. Can you do it?’ And he says ‘yes sir’, and along comes this girl.

When the girl enters the car, after the usual polite introductions, she happens to glance over to the back of the car. At the rear of the car she notices a duffel bag. She doesn’t think very much of it. The car starts up.

The senior police officer guns his engine and as soon as they are out of the police precinct, he is driving helter-skelter.

[2] The girl’s curiosity

Naturally, the girl is asking him ‘why are you doing this? Why are we driving so fast?’. He says, ‘listen your father didn’t tell you this but there is a serial murderer who intents to kill you. So I am going to save you and you’ve got to be very quick about it’

She’s of course deeply anxious and scared. Sits back and puts on a seatbelt and holds on for dear life. He is driving at a speed of 200 kilometers an hour.

Whenever he reaches the traffic lights, he doesn’t stop. He crashes through barriers. He doesn’t pay any heed to the road regulations. He does not even slow down when members of the police force flag him down. He put his foot down on the accelerator.

They are speeding. So much so that when he passes a heavily populated area – when there are shops outside and people sitting and eating at the sidewalk – he crashes right through them and this girl screams.

She says ‘what are you doing? What are you doing?’ He says, ‘that’s all right I’ll explain it to my superiors. They’d understand everything that I’m doing is lawful. You know after all we are avoiding this serial murderer.’

[3] The Stop at a pharmacy

This goes on for a while. Then, about 15 minutes into the journey this man stops at a pharmacy. And she says, ‘why are we stopping? I thought we were being pursued by the serial killer? Quick. Hurry!’ And, he says, ‘no no i have to erade my foot. You see I’ve got a little boil on the last toe of my left foot.’

He stops the car. He opens the door. Removes his shoe and shows her his foot and points to it and he says, ‘look at this boil’. She says, ‘well you’ve got to get it lanced. Have someone open it up and medicate it.’

He says, ‘no no we have no time I just need to erate it.’ Having erated it, he puts on his shoe and they’re back again driving exceedingly fast. Completely beyond every known system of safety limit.

[4] The Crash

Eventually, they crash into a tree and not only that. The car careens off, rebounds, turns over several times, and then it falls into a nearby lake.

The water is rushing up through the car and this girl is panicking. She turns and looks at the police officer. He’s bleeding. There’s blood everywhere. She’s trying to get out of the car.

What would you do if you were in her circumstances? You would look about for something with which to break open the windscreen and get out.

So, she’s looking about and this bag that was at the back of the car floats out near her. She rips it open in terrible hurry and there she finds a large amounts of money, diamonds and necklaces and various other valuables.

She asks him, ‘what have you done? Why are we in this crash? We’re sinking. Help me!’

‘I’m sorry, I have to confess to you, I actually robbed a bank. I didn’t tell your father and I was driving very very fast. There is no serial murderer looking for us. I’m very sorry. Will you please forgive me.’

 

And the car sinks. The girl is fighting for her life and … Stop there!

[5] The vehicular parts

Imagine that the car is the constitution:

the front right tire is the law-making body, Parliament;

the front left tire is the Judiciary;

the two tires at the back are the enforcement agencies and all the security forces of the country;

the steering wheel is the civil service; and

the uniform worn by the police officer is a badge of authority and it represents the government and the cabinet. The hands and legs of the police officer are the cabinet. The head is the prime minister.

[6] Your fate during the Emergency

The girl who is about to drown is you, the rakyat, the citizens. The duffel bag represents the trust of the people placed in the government and majority of the MPs by whose authority the Prime Minister is appointed, that is the money. The boil on the left leg which the police officer did not bother to treat is the current covid-19 virus. The car engine is the spirit of the Rule of Law.

I now ask you if you will to rewind the story in your own mind and try to understand the story in the context of these new points I’ve illustrated to you.

This now brings me to ask you this question: is this emergency a device for the convenience and comfort of 108 perhaps 109 MPs at the expense and prejudice of 34 million people of this country?