Yellow Peril by Tze Ming Mok

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Yellow Peril: My patch: Chinese whispers updated edition

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  • Rich of Observationz,

    On the related topic, am I the only one who thinks that the McCanns are about as innocent as Lindy Chamberlain - "foreign paedophiles stole my baby!"

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • InternationalObserver,

    I've found it amusing how my "quiet Mt Roskill street" has miraculously moved suburbs and is now in Three Kings according to the Herald today.

    That's to fill the void left when the Real Estate agents moved
    3 Kings into Mt Eden ...

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    about as innocent as Lindy Chamberlain

    Um, so quite innocent then? Her conviction WAS overturned, you know.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Keith Ng,

    Wait a minute, it's actually the kid's name - little Qian Xun. Duh. I plead the '4:00 am blogging' defense.

    Uh, really? 千寻 is literally "thousand searches". I just assumed it was the nickname they gave to the little lost girl (you know, lost --> search, etc.). Is this parental foresight, cosmic irony, or do we actually not know her real name?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 543 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Semmens,

    Murder, coming to a street near Xue.



    Sorry, I couldn't resist a Jackie Chan moment.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • James George,

    Something that isn't a joke which should be considering the body was found in a car parked in Keystone St, has been the appallingly slow and insouciant attitude of the police to this tragedy.

    They are either covering up their mistakes or simply don't care about 'Chinese' people.

    When this lowlife turned up at Henderson nick to get his passport and the weapon he last injured her with, wouldn't it have been smart to ensure everything was copacetic with the missus? Given he's a known wifebasher and all.

    Any of you other blokes you have travelled overseas with young children and no mother will probably have experienced the same hoop jumping as I have yet this bloke appears to have been waved through, when a rudimentary check there would have shown that he was a wifebashing a..hole.
    It goes on from there. Right from the start police knew the chap's history but acted as though there was no panic. As soon as they reluctantly owned that he was a woman beater it was blindingly obvious what had occured yet they sailed past the chaps car for days before they looked into it.

    What's the big deal?
    Well what if the poor woman was unconscious when she was put in there? If the stink hadn't attracted their attention by last night you'd have to think that she may have been alive in that car for a while.

    Of course the wife bashing industry hasn't covered themselves in glory either. They are quick to stick their paws out for money when tax dollars are on offer, building refuges from a to breakfast - even quicker to come knocking on doors asking for cash by scaring the women and guilt tripping the blokes, yet by all accounts this young woman and her daughter were on their own when it came to dealing with this recidivist bashing low life piece of garbage.

    As for the name furphy I'm less concerned about the pumpkin thing than the way that this young fellow NZer has had all her private business trumpeted around two countries when the tragedy surfaced.

    None of the news has sought to be helpful. It has all been sensationalist drama designed to titillate nosey-parkers and stickybeaks.

    Our young compatriot needs help not gossip and we need to know that our police will provide help quickly and effectively without concern for covering up mistakes made at the Henderson Police station or hesitation because of the victim's race.

    Since Sep 2007 • 96 posts Report Reply

  • Charles Mabbett,

    I think it is a bit premature to blame the police at this stage. Qian Xun was abandoned on Saturday and the story started to really blow up on Sunday into Monday. By then the father would have arrived in LA. Finding the body a day or two earlier is unlikely to have made too much of a difference in this case. The police claim that delays in getting a search warrant were one of the reasons for the time elapsed before opening the car boot. Maybe knowing a day or two earlier that they were hunting for an accused killer might have made a difference in trying to locate him in LA but I doubt it. One things for sure - the name of the street will haunt the police if they have screwed up.

    Since Nov 2006 • 236 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Of course the wife bashing industry hasn't covered themselves in glory either. They are quick to stick their paws out for money when tax dollars are on offer, building refuges from a to breakfast - even quicker to come knocking on doors asking for cash by scaring the women and guilt tripping the blokes, yet by all accounts this young woman and her daughter were on their own when it came to dealing with this recidivist bashing low life piece of garbage.

    Eh? According to a statement from Women's Refuge she was with them for a month last year, during which time they helped her get parenting and protection orders, but she left, leaving no forwarding address, before they could be completed. Your invective seems seriously misplaced there.

    And I do feel bound to point out that you're using information you don't think should have been published in making your argument.

    But I agree with you, on the face of it, about the police action in giving him his sword and his passport without making inquiries. Perhaps there are parts of that we don't know about, but it looks bad.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • 100 Word,

    The purported cuteness of little Maddy had no effect on me, despite her larger than life-size picture being plastered over every European customs terminal I've passed through in the last three months. Italian bakeries. Swiss bus shelters. The sides of cardboard box houses of homeless people.

    It is quite stunning how cuteness can get people so exercised. It's made me appreciate Free Tibet bumper stickers in a way I hadn't previously.

    Since Sep 2007 • 13 posts Report Reply

  • InternationalObserver,

    I'll get my 2¢ worth in, before talkback radio 'steals my thunder' ...

    Murder, coming to a street near Xue.

    Sorry, I couldn't resist a Jackie Chan moment.

    Hmmm, maybe you better see someone about that. My humour is as black as OJ's butt, but your little zinger is inappropriate.

    Something that isn't a joke which should be considering the body was found in a car parked in Keystone St, has been the appallingly slow and insouciant attitude of the police to this tragedy.

    They are either covering up their mistakes or simply don't care about 'Chinese' people.

    I think you're reaching too far with the latter, but crikey, the body was in the car outside the house the whole time and they were waiting for a warrant? Maybe I've been watching too many cop shows but I really thought they would have moved faster than this. Sure, no-one wants the cops to have carte blanche to go around kicking down doors and busting heads, but surely there must be some 'imminent threat' or emergency protocol that lets them act faster when necessary? They were on the case by Monday morning, and it's only Wednesday afternoon they find the body? (In the car outside the house!!)

    I think it is a bit premature to blame the police at this stage.

    Yes it is, but crikey it looks bad. The aussie media will have a field day with 'Kiwi Keystone Kops'. Mind you, 3 News reported tonite that the LAPD said they'd heard nothing about the search from Aussie police.

    The police claim that delays in getting a search warrant were one of the reasons for the time elapsed before opening the car boot.

    I'd like to know more about these 'delays'. As has already been noted:

    Well what if the poor woman was unconscious when she was put in there? If the stink hadn't attracted their attention by last night you'd have to think that she may have been alive in that car for a while.

    Yup - there'll be BIG trouble if an autopsy reveals she died in the boot. Something they don't show/tell you on CSI is that the bowels 'evacuate' after death ...

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • Tze Ming Mok,

    Murder, coming to a street near Xue. Sorry, I couldn't resist a Jackie Chan moment.

    Hmmm, maybe you better see someone about that.

    That's not even how you say it. It's like 'Shwear'. I'll save the rest of my opinion on that 'joke' for my ulcer.

    So, another fatality through domestic violence, happy Suffrage day. If it weren't for the unbearable cuteness and the international intrigue of abandoned mystery children and flights from justice, I wonder if this would have been just another statistic? One woman is killed by her partner or ex-partner every five weeks. Half of all murders of women in New Zealand are by partners or ex-partners. If anyone thinks these facts are just some Women's Refuge conspiracy to 'guilt trip' men, then we are in trouble.

    At the same time, the initially international and hence 'nationalistic solidarity' nature of the case may have also prevented any 'weird kung fu crime in secretive community' angle. Small mercies.

    And all just round the corner from the Roskill shops ('Three Kings' my ass). It makes me so sad. I'm just hoping something good can come from this. This, for example, is horrible, but it's important.

    SarfBank, Lunnin' • Since Nov 2006 • 154 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    Geographical location aside, this case makes me very, very sad. Sad that AnAn died in such heinous circumstances, sad for the wee girl, sad for the Mum's family, sad for the father's eldest "missing" daughter. Sometimes I wonder how long people can go on doing this shit to each other. I wonder if any of the neighbours knew what was going on? It's a prettty busy street, what with there being a kindergarten and a school further down the road. Loads of traffic, right at the start of the Roskill shops.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    If anyone thinks these facts are just some Women's Refuge conspiracy to 'guilt trip' men, then we are in trouble.

    Tangentially, it really is amazing - and frightening - how many blog and website commenters in NZ and overseas actually think that these kinds of statistics are just dreamed up by a rabid feminist cabal in order to make men look bad. Maybe it's a whole lot of the same people repeating themselves in various places, and I don't need to worry about it as much as I do... but wowee. The letters threads in any gender-based story in Salon, for example, are just nightmarish. Teh Feminists, they are not out to get you, guys. I promise.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Jimmy Hayes,

    One things for sure - the name of the street will haunt the police if they have screwed up.

    And the Herald obliges: Sub heading of 'Keystone Cops' and a bullet point of 'Why it took them so long is just one of many questions arising from a sensational case that in some ways resembles the Keystone Kops.'

    I mean, come on, that's just reaching/foreshadowing for a catchy way to describe the case for weeks to come. Cringe.

    And while I'm focusing on the media here, my thoughts are similar to Jackie above - I feel fucking terrible about this crime, not to mention the fact that it's all far more common than we like to believe.

    Since Apr 2007 • 35 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    It makes me so sad. I'm just hoping something good can come from this.

    The small mercy may be that it will underline and amplify the current family violence campaign, in which I now feel even more glad to have been involved (if you were watching NZ TV Tze Ming, you'd currently be at constant risk of seeing me eyeballing the camera intoning the line "It's not okay ...").

    Not that I feel like I deserve a medal for that. It was a couple of hours of my time one weekday. I wish I could do more.

    There's also now talk of better support for women at risk in migrant communities, so hopefully there will be progress there.

    And, as a bonus, Christine Rankin has yet to appear as a rent-a-quote..

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Charles Mabbett,

    There's a good interview with Neville Robertson on Nine to Noon about the issue of domestic violence. He makes the point that the recorded history of domestic violence and protection orders in the An An Liu case follows a well established pattern between the victim and the abuser. I'll post the link when RNZ upload the audio onto their website.

    Since Nov 2006 • 236 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    But I agree with you, on the face of it, about the police action in giving him his sword and his passport without making inquiries. Perhaps there are parts of that we don't know about, but it looks bad.

    I would presume that the police were only legally entitled to hold them for a certain period of time. The sword perhaps was evidence in a previous domestic assault, not dealt with through the courts, and his passport must have been held to prevent flight. Again, presumably if he's done whatever punishment he got for that previous crime, no longer an issue.

    No doubt a lot of people will now point at this along with other things, and say that the police shouldn't have given him his stuff back on that day. But police can only hold your belongings for legal reasons, not just because you've hit your wife previously, and you might do it again. There wouldn't have been a legal basis for that.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    A review of Why Do They Kill.

    Most of what they discovered violates cultural assumptions, but only some of it will surprise feminists. The biggest non-surprise (to feminists) is that the mythological wife-killer—a man who is generally a good husband but snaps when he discovers an infidelity—is a myth in every sense of the word. To the last one, the murders and attempted murders were the finale of a long history of increasingly violent domestic violence. In pretty much every situation, the man was attempting to control his wife or girlfriend through violence. Since it was an attempt to control, the violence escalated when the victim showed resistance, so unsurprisingly, most of the murders or attempted murders occurred after the victim left her abuser, made plans to leave him, or threatened to leave him. There were a few infidelities, but they were never the direct cause of the crime—most of the jealous killers made up the infidelity in their minds (some even accused their wives of having sex with male relatives like uncles or fathers, they were so out of their minds with paranoia) or attacked their ex-wives after the women terminated the relationship and moved on. Some of the killers were not jealous, but just killed or tried to kill because they were irate at losing their wives and the services/money they saw provided by their wives, but regardless of the nuances, across the board Adams paints a picture of men who feel that women are their property and who try to control their property through violence. Only one man seemed sincerely sorry at all that he’d objectified his wife repeatedly throughout their marriage in such a way.

    Adams was interested in seeing how men who make the move to murder differ from the majority of abusers who don’t, and his research mostly points to the conclusion that the difference is in degree more than kind. Murder-minded abusers take the beliefs that they are entitled to control women further than most abusers, and they tend to be more violent than most and abuse more often than most. There are some surprising differences, but on the whole, men who try to kill their wives after a long period of abusiveness are just what you’d expect.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Charles Mabbett,

    I'm sure all of you know your way around the RNZ website but here's the URL anyway for the Nine to Noon discussion this morning:
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon

    Since Nov 2006 • 236 posts Report Reply

  • Deborah,

    I read that whole thread at Pandagon. The stories are heartbreaking.

    Thanks for the link, Stephen.

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    It's a sort of horrible serendipity that I read the Pandagon thread this weekend just before this story blew up.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • anjum rahman,

    Tangentially, it really is amazing - and frightening - how many blog and website commenters in NZ and overseas actually think that these kinds of statistics are just dreamed up by a rabid feminist cabal in order to make men look bad. Maybe it's a whole lot of the same people repeating themselves in various places, and I don't need to worry about it as much as I do... but wowee.

    i've been frustrated by this as well - particulary that researcher in canterbury (or is it otago? sorry, you mainlanders all look the same to me...) who claims that women are equally violent to men in relationships.

    there was an excellent piece by neville robertson (again!) in the waikato times a few weeks back pointing out the weaknesses in that research. i can't find a link on the stuff website, but the main points i can remember are:
    1. the research tool used would award equal points to an incident where a women struck her partner when he attacked her. the fact that she was acting in self-defence doesn't register in the research.

    2. there was no measure of how each of them was feeling when the violence was occurring. so while the woman would feel intimidated and afraid, it is far less likely than the man would feel the same way. in any case, this was not taken into account.

    3. the research only took into account violence while the relationship continued. the fact is that the a lot of the more vicious stuff happens when the victim is in the process of leaving, or has left. she is definitely at greater risk at that time, yet the violence during this period was not measured.

    and of course, even the original researchers agree that when it comes to serious injury or death, women far outnumber men. but the level of denial out there is truly amazing, and that's why it's so great that guys like russell are speaking out with the "it's not okay" thing.

    hamilton • Since Nov 2006 • 130 posts Report Reply

  • Charles Mabbett,

    Ugly stuff. Does anyone remember the Billy Bob Thornton film Slingblade?

    Since Nov 2006 • 236 posts Report Reply

  • Jim Cathcart,

    What's up with the cops? Is this just another case of institutional racism towards Chinese women?

    Since Nov 2006 • 228 posts Report Reply

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