KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - World leaders voiced concern over the reported mistreatment of sacked Cabinet minister Anwar Ibrahim as Malaysian authorities launched an investigation into allegations he was beaten while blindfolded in custodyÖ
Reuters International, 2nd October 1998
Relics of the passing
years mark the massive distance between us.
Long has it been since I strode from your shores,
But through the endless time, across the great divide,
I raise my hand and I can still sense the delicate texture of my earth and water.
In the sultry nights when sleep eludes me,
I can hear the sweet soft undertones from the land I was born
And I immerse myself in the embrace of that tender sound.
But now the sound is wry,
Twisted by emerging malaise.
No longer the laughter that once was.
No more the child bursting with growth, who leaped without hesitance and screamed without shame.
A shadow has descended over the sun-baked soil and rain-soaked grass on which I once played.
From behind the now towering wall of blame
Came the stories of the straight and plights.
Thousands of stories from thousands of lips,
all moving at once but none moving in synch.
All accusing, none forgiving, ever confronting, and never sparing.
Pick me the truths from the sea of lies.
Tell me of my family, my people, my country.
Let me hear the voice of my home, unexaggerated by rage and untainted by conceit.
Put me once again in the warm embrace of the true voice from my motherland.
© 1998 H.L. Hiew. All Rights Reserved.