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By Farida Jivamala Ibrahim
Teoh Beng Hock : death number 1804; died while in custody on 16th July, 2009.
He can never come back but he matters still. His little one, growing up without a Dad – he matters too.
R. Gunasegaran : death number 1805; died in custody on the same day in 2009.
Nothing can ever bring him back but he matters too, like his sister, striving to redeem his name.
They all matter - the 1,805 Malaysians who, between 2003 and 16th July 2009 according to a ministerial reply in Parliament, died while in the custody of the state.
We have only the names of 50, among them Syed Fadzil Syed Hamzah - death number 6; S.Hendry - death number 928; Liziana binti Mohd Kamal - death number 1330 and Chai Hong Yik - death number 1631.
What of the remaining 1,755? Who were they? What of their families, struggling with grief, waiting for a closure that will not come?
We do not know. What little we read and hear about is horrifying – the cruel punches, brutal kicks, relentless beatings, unstoppable strangleholds, mental and verbal assaults … and more.
There must have been the screams of anguish, the pleas to stop, the indescribable pain, a welcomed unconsciousness, and then the stillness of the body and the ending of a life.
They were our own – Anak Bangsa Malaysia. They died in circumstances most questionable and from treatment most vile, in this country they called and we call ‘home’.
And because we looked away, the numbers grew.
Only we, through remembering, through vigilance, through outrage, can do the very thing we failed to do before.
We must protect our own.
* * * * * * *
 
As the sweltering heat of the day gave way to a gentle breeze, the faithful gathered by the river as many had done the previous year.
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