I suppose the story of a chcken thief who couldn’t recognise a chicken in court as the one he was alleged to have stolen was meant to provide some comic relief in the The Star. You are meant to chuckle or laugh when you read it.
But read the report more carefully and you will see that the accused had to support his family on RM25 a day. That’s about RM750/month, putting the household on the threshold of the official poverty line. Nothing to laugh about there. And he gets three months jail for stealing a chicken.
Now we shouldn’t condone even petty theft.
But we all know how difficult it is for any household to survive on less than RM1,500/month or even more, let alone RM750.
How about poverty in a land of plenty? Do we condone that?
My question now: what is the penalty for those who are now allowing TNB to bleed RM500 million in “capacity charges” over the next eight months by allowing an IPP to operate a power plant (Jimah) to provide electricity that the country doesn’t need? The Jimah plant, which will be operational in January, will raise the country’s power reserve margin to 45 per cent. The CEO of TNB says the country doesn’t need the power and can do without it. Who will profit from the Jimah power plant?
Will anyone be hauled up to account for this?
The Star
Friday December 12, 2008
Chicken thief couldn’t recognise birdIPOH: A man who admitted to stealing a chicken got amused looks in a magistrate’s court here when he could not recognise the same bird brought to him for identification.
Contract worker R. Maran, 29, was asked to identify the bird after pleading guilty to stealing the 1.5kg cockerel from a coop in Hala Perindustrian Menglembu 13, here, on Oct 10.
However, when owner carried the chicken into the magistrate’s court yesterday, Maran unexpectedly denied that the black bird with brown chest feathers was the one he had stolen.
“What? You think it has been switched?” asked prosecuting officer Asst Supt Jamaluddin Osman to chuckles from the public gallery.
At one point, ASP Jamaluddin even brought out a photograph of the stolen chicken to compare it with the live bird for Maran’s benefit.
The prosecuting officer and magistrate Sharmila Abdul Samad finally pointed out to the accused that the chicken would have grown bigger since the theft two months ago.
Maran then acknowledged that it was the same bird, and pleaded to the court for a lighter sentence as he had to support his wife and two young children. He also said his family was poor and that he only earned RM25 a day.
The magistrate sentenced him to three months’ jail from Oct 10, the date he was caught red-handed with the chicken at the coop.
Wtf?!! (sorry, this was just too much)..
what kind of mockery of a court room is that? They seem like they are purposely making fun of the poor fella.. Like you said, can’t condone theft but a more understanding sentence or circumstances etc.. he prob stole cos of how much he’s struggling to feed his family. I feel saddened to say that I thought (after reading it) they were harsher on him…
where is MIC then? the allegedly ONLY “helper” of Indian rights.. what do they care?
Malaysians who struggle like this should be helped or trained to help themselves.. I find it disgusting.. I dunno, reading the news (from whatever source) just.. sickens me.. sigh..
Other than that, Merry Christmas!!!!
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Three months. And we have rotting carcasses in our hypermarkets.
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Well curi ayam pun kena. Lol in Malaysia, poor little fella. Who is the owner of the chicken, so kedekut ma, could have just donated to the poor guy and tell him next time don’t do it.
No big deal unless you want to make it big.
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The poor in Malaysia suffer most. Now with the rising cost of living, to break even, it is not RM1500. For a family of four, to break even, the figure is RM4000 to RM5000. One must include not just food but medical and educational cost. Each jab vaccination alone is a few hundred ringgit. Kindergarten fees alone is RM500 a month per kid.
So Anil, Rm1500 is an understatement. This poor fellow’s RM750 is hardly anough to survive.
Why? Because of corruption and mismanagement of the economy, our pay packet does not commensurate with the cost of living in Malaysia. Simple as that. Go to Singapore and you see a normal level government servant earning S$4000. Mind you, that is Singapore dollar!
In Malaysia, as stated above, besides food, medical and educational charges eats a huge chunk of an individual’s salary. We are not even factoring the fuel and car loan yet. What makes matter worse is the number of kids involved. Like I said Kindergarten alone is RM500 per kid.
Now who suffers the most? Well, the Indians and Chinese do suffer but the ones who suffer the most are the poor Malays. Why is this so? This is because they were encouraged to have 5 to 10 kids 15 years ago. Now they cannot cope. Having one or two kids is so difficult but having to support 5 to 10 kids, is an immensely difficult task.
So, the poor Malays have got a double whammy. Due to the steep rise in inflation and the low remuneration of our pay packet, Chinese and Indian families find it hard to feed and support even 2 kids, but the poor Malays have to crack their heads to feed their 5 to 10 kids.
It is a double whammy.
Then on the other end of the stick, you see people in the old boys crony network, driving cars like the RM2 million dollar Lamborghini Gallardo, RM3 million Bentley Continental GT, RM4 million Ferrari 599 GTB besides buying RM25 million dollar houses in Kenny Hills.
But the chicken thief gets 3 months jail.
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Anil,
Your first story reveals the irony of judicial justice.
Your second; from the right pocket to the left pocket; then to the correct pockets.
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PM and DPM paid (thousands per month) … just to stay in their palace…this poor guy looking for a good meal for his family….’
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3 months for stealing a chicken.
a tan sri conferment for stealing RM500 million?
BN style mah.
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I wonder if usage under RM20 for this fellow’s electricity. Then, he should be getting FREE electricity…so generous of the government.
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Who is the beneficiary of Jimah power plant? Get the answer and it explains itself why TNB is paying RM500 mil per yr for capacity.
I am wondering why this country only talk about such things – like the lop-sided agreement with toll operators, this IPP thingy and what have you – but nothing is done to correct the situation. Where are the MPs and what are they doing about this?
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RM500 compensation paid by TNB for excess capacity is just one side of the coin. In another side, Petronas has to sell natural gas at a very subsidized price to IPPs which itself is easily more than RM500.
In a nutshell, Malaysians have to pay several billions each year to IPPs for buying excess electricity capacity which is never been used by any consumers.
Our money is just wasted as eletrons draining down to earth for nothing.
This is a LEGAL way of stealing our rakyat money.
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It shall be read as RM500 million, not the peanut RM500.
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han2
the same guy who was given a port, an airport, multiple IPP licences and he was glorified for his simple ways such as eating in a mamak shop.
who is paying the IPP charges? its you and me,isnt it?
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This is called Malaysian ‘boleh’ justice… steal indecent amounts lke the corrupt politicians and (you could) get feted and honoured with state awards.
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Disgusting. Ini macam pun boleh.
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The irony of it all, like in medeival england where the peasents were tortured, jailed, beheaded or even hanged for this same offense, now flash forward to present day Malaysia things have not changed, a poor man steals to feed his family, he having served 2 months gets sentenced another month. I wonder how many UMNO THIEFS WHO STEAL MILLIONS HAVE SPENT A DAY IN JAIL, HOW MANY, ANYBODY?
What a decadent soceity, where there 2 sets of laws in malaysia, first that applies to all except the umnoerians and another where there is no law that can touch them. if I remember correctly the last time someone from Umno was an outcast from umno- DS ANWAR IBRAHIM, but that was a special case. but other than that was during the time of ???? hussein oon? I am talking about big timers, oh yah , mahathir put that negeri adun/minister in jail for murder. since than I mean who from UMNO HAS GONE TO JAIL FOR CORRUPTION?
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So the bleeding heart Anil is at it again.
This time, stealing a chicken is NOT WRONG, so long as that guy who do the stealing is poor.
Yep, that’s the tone of Anil’s article.
It’s true that TNB and whoever is/are behind that new Jimah power plant ought to get their a*** kicked, but hey, that chicken stealer is still a thief.
Anil, you are a Catholic. Me too.
As far as I know about MY Catholicism and all the related teachings, a thief is a thief. No if, no but, nothing. A thief by any other name is still a thief.
How about YOUR Catholicism?
Does it say that a poor thief is not a thief, only a rich thief deserves to be a thief?
How about that — those Nazi soldiers who slaughtered the Jews back in World War Two are not guilty, since, hey, they do it UNDER DISTRESS, right??
Humorous? Too bad, Anil. I simply failed to see it.
I specifically mentioned that even petty theft cannot be condoned – though there may be mitigating circumstances that a just legal system would recognise. My point was that there are bigger crooks and injustices getting away with a lot more. – Anil
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Why look for MIC everytime an Indian gets into trouble. Where is the government, where is the ruling party, where is compassion for someone who stole a chicken to feed the family. There was no loss to any one. Perhaps there was no one to bail the poor Indian out. The PO would have asked for an exorbitant sum and hence the Indian would have been remanded pending the police to complete their investigation into a complex case of theft of chicken where the thief was caught red handed and the loot recovered.Perhaps the court was too busy disposing other deserving cases.
What a shame….
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Mitigating circumstances are often used as flimsy excuses.
I’ve been dirt poor before, Anil. I know the feeling of hunger. I understand the pain in the stomach when one has nothing to eat for 4 days.
I was there, Anil.
As “Mitigating circumstances” go, I could avail myself to steal, cheat, rob, or whatever. I mean, after all, I’m hungry, and to hell with the world, I need to fill my tummy !
Well … did I steal, rob, cheat, or do whatever just to get my tummy filled?
No doubt about it, the temptations were there. As you and I know, temptation is the hardest thing to get rid of, else we won’t be reading the story of our Lord Jesus’s 40 days in the desert, being tempted by the devil.
To cut the story short, no, I didn’t do such thing.
Yes, I could die. But I still prefer to die than to do something that I would have regretted the rest of my life.
No, Anil, this ain’t a “higher than thou” preaching session. What I am telling you is, “Mitigation circumstances” is NOTHING, and should NOT be used as an excuse to commit a crime.
We Malaysians gotta learn to be responsible for one’s own doings.
Stealing is still stealing. What Robbin Hood did, however good his intentions were, was stealing nevertheless. So is that guy who stole the chicken.
I know I’m the odd man out in this thread — amongst the touchy feely folks here, I look as if I’m cold blooded. But I still gotta stake my point — Mitigating Circumstances should NEVER be taken as an excuse to commit a crime, period.
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Yes, a thief is a thief nevertheless but the sentence must relate to the severity of the crime. 3 (months) for stealng a chicken is an overkill, just as 2 years for stealing a toothbrush which I have heard of a case years ago. On the other extreme, CBT of millions would only be sentenced to maybe 3 to 5 years? Where is the justice and where is the compassion? So sad…
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Maybe a sainthood is in order for Penang.
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Penang, you are the kind of sanctimonious person Jesus was speaking out against. It’s people like you who cannot understand His time in this world.
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Don’t preach here lah if you are so immature that you cannot understand the term “mitigating circumstances”.
Even the law recognises it. You preach so much, but did not Jesus forgive the prostitute? And those who nailed him on the cross?
Sentence must relate to the severity of the crime, as stated by Whatif.
If your 5 year old child stole something in the supermarket, do you want him to be thrown into Henry Gurney until he is 18 years old or would you appeal for forgiveness from the prosecuting authority?
Now you see what a big hippocrate you are.
What if you are an Indonesian maid, everyday being beaten and poured hot water upon, pissed upon by your employer, suddenly one day, you snap, and you hit your owner. No mitigating circumstances?
See how stupid your comments sounded?
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Nobody is trying to say stealing is not a crime.
Mitigating circumstances relate to the handing down of PUNISHMENT. A judge may decide on a lighter sentence if the circumstances of the crime merits it – say severe economic hardship.
This is AFTER the court has found him guilty. The court arrives at a verdict after perusing all the presented EVIDENCE, NOT the mitigating circumstances!
Maybe someone should also try reading a law book, sometimes…..
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Anil
I don’t condone theft or crimes of any sort but I am sympathetic to the poor guy’s plight and even more so for his family, now that he will be incarcerated. The social environment is what has created his predicament and unlike the country I now reside, there is no social safety net; no “dole” money so to say in your country. What is a poor fellow to do when your young ones cry in hunger pains? Those who have not undergone such experience cannot be judgemental. A parent’s love will far out weight one’s own hunger pangs as experienced by “Penang” above. Where is one’s compassion, where is one’s humanity?
While I do not want to be seen to want to reward his crime, I am mindful of his family’s welfare. They are the real victims of his punishment I would like to suggest that you find out who he is, establish a fund to help his family. I will be the first to contribute RM500 to it.
We have come to the festive seasons and all religions have taught us to be compassionate. In my small way, I want to share the many blessings that I have been endowed. Perhaps this fund can help him and his family fare better even for a little while. Can I also hope that it will also open the floodgate of love and compassion for our poorer bredthrens?
The question, I ask is “Can you forgo one teh tarek to make his life less miserable”? I know many will say that there are many more like him but Confucious say “The longest journey starts with the first step”. It is such a pity that a country that is so rich in resources and culture that this abject poverty still exist. It is such an indictment on the government. I take comfort in learning that one of the PR State governements’ aim is to eradicate poverty. This is the step in the right direction.
I will be in Malaysia shortly so will make good my pledge.
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Have I ever commented on the length of the prison sentence?
Can’t you people read anymore???
All I am saying is that if anyone commit a crime, be it murder or rape or theft, that person should be totally responsible for the crime he or she has done.
No excuse, no “Mitigating Circumstances”, nothing, should be in the way between the punishment and the crime.
And to those who are calling names and such, oh well, you and I will one day be dead. And only at that time you will regret your name calling habit.
Have a nice week ahead.
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