For quite some time now, especially after the General Elections (GE) last year, the reputation of our police force has turned ugly. Many of their actions lately have not gone down well with the public. So the question is, are the police out of control, controlled (by who ?) or are they still neutral as they should be ?
Below is a list I’ve made on why the reputation of the police has dropped.
1. Police have disrupted countless of ceramah’s made by politicians from the opposition….but almost none by BN.
2. Police disrupting countless of harmless & peaceful candlelight vigils by the public. What happened to Article 10 of the Federal Constitution which guarantees Malaysians the freedom of assembly ? Is it still freedom if a permit is needed ?
3. Countless of harmless & peaceful people who participated in many candlelight vigils have been arrested.
4. Countless detainees died under police custody. The late Kugan is a recent & controversial case. The case was classified as murder. However, nobody has been punished so far.
5. Police seized forensic examples of the late Kugan from the office of a pathologist. Are they trying to cover up something ?
6. 1,535 deaths in police custody between 2003-2007.
7. Police arrested mother & 6-year-old daughter with 10 others when they attempted to submit a letter at the PM Department's office in Putrajaya, appealing for ISA detainees to be freed.
8. Police gave Chang Jiun Haur (below) an a**-whopping a.k.a excessive force, in May 2008. The policemen who did it are still not known & neither has any action been taken so far.
9. Police seized a video camera from a MalaysiaKini journalist during a candlelight vigil in November 2008. There were recordings of the acts of the police attempting to disperse the crowd. The tape was finally returned….edited.
10. Police scalded hot water on a man in December 2008.
11. Police arrested opposition politician, Ronnie Liu, while he was going to a state cabinet meeting in November 2008…Have any BN politician ever been arrested ?
12. Police banned opposition politicians from any mention of the murdered Altantuya during the Bukit Gantang by-election campaign. PKR’s Badrul Hisham Shaharin is being investigated for this “offence”. Have the police forgotten that Article 10 of the Federal Constitution guarantees Malaysians the freedom of speech & expression ?
13. Police banned opposition politicians from any mention of linking Najib with the Perak political crisis. Lim Kit Siang is being investigated for this “offence”. Strangely, the police report was made by the police themselves & not any member of the public. Since when have the police been responsible to protect the reputation of BN ??
14. Police arrested 21 people in Ipoh for participating in a peaceful hunger strike in protest against the unethical, undemocratic, illegal and unconstitutional power grab in Perak.
15. Police told public not to wear black at the Perak state assembly in May 2009.
16. Police break up peaceful protestors while they’re singing the national anthem, Negaraku, at a candlelight vigil held in November 2008. Despite video evidence, Selangor police chief Khalid Abu Bakar denied this.
17. Police allowed a mob to use a public address system to threaten the organizers & participants of a controversial forum held in August 2008. Doesn’t this show that the police supported the mob ? What kind of crowd control or law enforcement was that ? Where were the water cannons & FRU ?
18. Police raid DAP headquarters in May 2009 without a search warrant, first time in DAP’s 43-year history & never allowed to be done by the first five PM’s of the country.
19. Police fired tear gas to the public outside the Palace & into the compound of Masjid Ubudiyyah who were protesting over the Perak crisis.
20. Police sprayed chemical-laced water at about 300 supporters of detained Hindraf leader, P. Uthayakumar.They were accompanying nine people, who intended to lodge police reports alleging that Uthayakumar was denied proper medical attention for his ailment.
21. Police fired tear gas & used water cannons containing chemical-laced water, on a large & peaceful crowd consisting of elderly people who wanted to submit a memorandum to the British embassy in KL.
22. Police fired tear gas & water cannons at demonstrators at Batu Caves Temple in November 2007.
The list above is quite short. It can be made to be longer…but 22 points is enough right. After all that, police brutality, biasness, foul play & what not must be stopped. The police are supposed to be a neutral party without any involvement in the dirty game of politics.
Instead of intimidating people, being busy with by-elections, the Perak crisis, & tackling opposition politicians,…the police should focus more on fighting crime & making the public feel safe to walk on the streets again. That is their primary duty, to serve & protect the country. I hope they make improvements soon.
