Dada Nine

Immediately after my arrest, I was interrogated several times but they were just preliminary investigations about my identity. They didn’t last very long. Iskra and Mo had spoken for me but I did not know that then. That first time at the police station everyone seemed to know of my case but they acted as if they weren’t interested. It’s a Malay thing they said.

‘ we can’t afford to be seen as too European. ‘

A week later however the police examiner on behalf of the prosecution looked at me with a certain curiosity .To start with he only asked my name and address, my job title, date of birth and where I was born. Then he wanted to know if I had a lawyer.

I said I didn’t and why was it necessary

Why he asked

I replied that I found my case a very simple one.

He smiled and said, ‘that’s one way of looking at it, but the law is clear, if you don’t have a lawyer, the court will assign you one and it’s better that it comes through us.’

I thought it was very convenient that the legal system took responsibility for such details and told him so.

He agreed with me and said ‘we are a very modern and progressive democracy. The world outside of this hemisphere all thought we couldn’t do it but the law is very well thought out here ‘he said.

In the beginning, I didn’t take him seriously. What would the peninsula pirates have done, cut his tongue out or been killed in the process. Their law was the old law of the islands; if anyone comes near you, kill or be killed. My mind went back to the beach hut and the time the woman in blue first spoke to me.

‘Your dada is Ra chinese,’ she said. She looked at me.