This story is a MUST READ. Gosh, is this what the people who serve the nation get in return?? Sad :( 

Forty years ago, John Stevens had signed up for the police force to serve his country. He had hoped to earn enough to support his siblings.

Today, he is only left with regret.

“Look at my condition, they have neglected me,” whimpered the 61-year-old pensioner in a tone that did little to conceal his resentment and sorrow.

His wife, Elizabeth Packianathan, 57, shared the same sentiment. “After serving in the police for 34 years, what did we get?”

The couple’s only son, John Patrick, 30, added: “More than anything else, we want to highlight the discrimination and problems we faced.”

Met at their house in Ipoh, Perak, yesterday, the family of the former lance corporal related their ordeal.

Suffered a stroke

Eight years ago - on June 3, 1999 - Stevens collapsed while manning a roadblock in Pusing, Batu Gajah. But he later managed to return home on his motorcycle.

“When he entered the house, he fell again,” recalled Packianathan.

“He was suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure. He had complained of feeling giddy several times, but instead of assigning him to a desk job, they asked him to stand in the sun.”

When Stevens, who is now partially paralysed and his right leg amputated, was taken to a clinic, a scan was done and the doctor concluded that it could be a stroke.

Worried about his health, the family decided to transfer him to a private hospital and this, according to John, irked the police officers in Batu Gajah.

“They kept harassing us to take him to the (public) Ipoh Hospital. But we told them that the doctor (at the private hospital) said the bill would be between RM3,000 and RM5,000, and we could afford to pay this as my mother had some savings.

“But they never listened and kept harassing us,” he claimed. “On the 11th, a police officer from the Batu Gajah district headquarters showed up at the hospital.

“He insulted us by saying things like ‘Orang India mana ada duit? Mahu minta sedekah? Mahu toreh getah? Baju pun tak mampu beli, nak masuk private’ (Where do the Indians have money? Are you going to beg? Tap rubber? Can’t even afford to buy clothes, you want to go to a private hospital).”

Despite the family insisting that they would pay, it is unclear as to why they were ‘harassed’.

John, who is a final-year law student, lodged a police report regarding this on the same day while his mother filed another report the next day.

Stevens was discharged two weeks later and his follow-up treatment and physiotherapy were done at the Ipoh Hospital.

John said he was also puzzled why his father was not allowed to go on medical board, where he could get a certification from an independent panel of doctors that he was unfit for work. According to him, Stevens’ doctor at Ipoh Hospital had concluded that he was capable of carrying out desk duties.

“How is this possible? My father could not walk, his eyesight was bad, his hearing was also affected, how could he work?” asked an exasperated John, who revealed that the episode had caused him to suffer from clinical depression.

Stevens retired about one and a half years after the mishap. By then, the family had already used up most of their savings, and Stevens faced further problems when his  pension was held back for almost a year.

No assistance received

John also claimed that the family received nothing from the police Social Welfare Fund despite RM7 being deducted to go to the fund from Stevens’ salary every month.
“Only once, they gave us groceries worth about RM150,” he said.

“It was really hard for us,” recounted his mother. “We did not receive any help from our relatives either and the landlord of our previous house wanted to evict us,” she said.

John said he later asked for a RM3,000 loan from the welfare fund to help the family pay the deposit for a new house, but this was rejected.

“An officer at the Batu Gajah police headquarters told me that no help will be extended because we had gone against the police by lodging reports against them,” he claimed.

Asked why they did not turn to MIC for help, Packianathan said she met Perak MIC chief G Rajoo at the hospital once and related their plight to him.

“He promised to raise the issue with the state police chief, but nothing happened. So we gave up.

“Our situation was really bad and we even considered committing suicide. Then a Chinese friend advised me against this and asked me to seek MCA’s help.”

At this point, John claimed that his father, who retired in January 2001, did not get his pension until December of that year.

“He began to receive his pension thanks to MCA which wrote several letters to the relevant departments regarding this,” he said.

Royal police commission

The family had also approached DAP leader and Ipoh Barat MP M Kula Segaran for help and the opposition politician wrote two letters to the state police chief and inspector-general of police, but nothing came out of this.

John told Malaysiakini that the family even tried engaging lawyers to look into the medical board application and the social welfare fund issues, but were told that they had no case.

“This is one of the reasons which motivated me to study law. Some of the lawyers we approached were afraid to take up the case as it involved the police while others said we could not afford their fees.

“So I wanted to do law to help those who could be in a similar predicament like my family,” he said.

Meanwhile, John said he also raised their problems with the Royal Police Commission during a public inquiry in Ipoh, but this also yielded no results.

“At that point, I gave up. I was worried about my mother’s (photo) safety and decided to just concentrate on my studies instead,” he added.

In April 2005, John said his father’s friend, a policeman, visited the family and advised them to write to the state police welfare fund.

“I wrote a letter but there was no reply, I wrote a second letter, and this time through the help of a police officer, I got them to respond.

“However, they said no help can be extended if there is no support from the Batu Gajah district level. So that was that,” he said.

Police report lodged

Following this, John wrote a letter to the Ipoh Hospital director asking him about the medical board application and how his father was considered fit for desk duty despite his condition.

Should the family manage to get a review from the medical board about Stevens’ health, they would be able to get compensation.

“As usual, there was no reply. We also tried meeting the director, but he was always too busy,” he said.

Frustrated, John lodged a police report on July 7, 2005 against the hospital, Batu Gajah district police headquarters and the pension office.

After this, he said, the hospital’s deputy director sent a reply letter stating that the hospital was merely following procedure.

The Batu Gajah police then called in John to record his statement.

“I was threatened by an ASP (the investigating officer) who told me not to lie as he has sent 20 people to the gallows,” he alleged.

In August, John said the police told him that the case had been referred to the Deputy Public Prosecutor’s (DPP) office but when he checked with the DPP, they told him that nothing was received.

“I wrote three letters to the police and the DPP asking them about the investigations. I was also informed that the police told the DPP that I could not be traced, and I wrote to the DPP to counter this.

“But now this matter is also hanging, how many more letters can I write?”

Not asking for much

At the end of the day, what does the Stevens family want?

“We are not asking for much,” said John.

“During my father’s treatment at the Ipoh Hospital, we were asked to purchase medication which the hospital did not have, amounting to RM1,700. We want them to reimburse us for this.

“We are asking for a RM5,000 loan from the welfare fund for my education as well as a review of the medical board application.

“We have read in the newspapers about other policemen receiving all sorts of assistance, so why should we be discriminated?” he asked, adding that the family is now surviving on his father’s RM910 pension and his mother’s savings.

“But more than anything else, we just want to tell our story,” he said.

A teary-eyed Packianathan then added: “If this is how the police treat the non-Malays, then why should they join the force. I would personally discourage them from doing so.”

Despite several attempts, Perak police chief Zulkifli Abdullah and his deputy Hadi Ho Abdullah could not be reached for comment.

Source : Politics 101 Via Malaysia Kini

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