The Selangor Chief Police Officer, Deputy Comm Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar should apologise to Ronnie Liu for the unprecedentedly ill-mannered, rough and high-handed police arrest of the Selangor state exco at the Selangor state secretariat on Wednesday, just in time to prevent him from attending the weekly state exco meeting as if he posed instant and major threat to national security and public law and order.
The Police has to date failed to give any credible reason why the arrest should be effected in so rude and crude a manner, when the police should know that Ronnie was not about to be a fugitive from justice and from his past record, would have fully co-operated with the police in his own arrest.
I am not here disputing Ronnie’s arrest – putting aside for the moment the merits and demerits of the charge pending against him – but the manner of the arrest of a State Exco, raising the question asked by Malaysians not only in Selangor but throughout the country that if the police could be so highhanded and ill-mannered when dealing with a Selangor State Exco, how could the ordinary man and woman in the street expect good manners and courtesy from the Police in their everyday interactions?
Ronnie is to be charged on Monday under Section 186 of the Penal Code for the offence of obstructing a public servant in the discharge of his functions, which is punishable on conviction to a two-year jail sentence, RM10,000 fine or both.
If the two accused in the C4 murder of Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu, Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar (both members of the Special Action Unit, UTK) could be treated with the extraordinary and unprecedented kindness of covering their faces using the “ninja” mask throughout the murder trial which have lasted over 150 days, can the Selangor CPO explain why the police is incapable of the most minimal considerations of courtesy and good manners when arresting Ronnie?
Is this why the Police has abandoned the earlier “mesra” slogan, to the extent that the entire police motto of “Mesra, Cepat dan Betul” had been dropped?
Khalid has also failed to explain why it has taken a full year to charge and arrest Ronnie for an alleged offence over a very straightforward matter for which a police report was lodged in November last year.
Let him come clean and give the relevant dates, when the Police investigations were completed, when the investigation papers were forwarded to the Deputy Public Prosecutor’s office for action, when the DPP decided that Ronnie be arrested and charged and when the police received such instruction from the DPP!
If there is an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), all these information would have to be disclosed when a formal complaint is lodged with the commission.
Is this why the police are so dead set against an IPCMC from being set up to deal with police abuses of power, for the police would have nowhere to hide their abuses, wrongs and mistakes?
I regret the unthinking intervention of the Home Minister, Datuk Syed Hamid Albar who criticized me at the Parliament lobby yesterday following my media conference deploring the manner of Ronnie’s arrest.
He said:
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“Beliau sentiasa mengkritik kerajaan apabila pemimpin DAP dan ahli parti ditahan polis termasuk menghalang tugas penguatkuasa.
“Perrnahkah dia cakap perkara baik mengenai polis. Jadi dia mesti menjadi lebih rasional. Kita dapat lihat setiap tindakannya didorong oleh politik,” katanya. (Utusan Malaysia)
Just to prove Hamid wrong that I had never praised the police, let me refer him to my media statement of March 2, 2006 where I gave “the highest praise” to the then Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Mohd Bakri Musa for his speech opening a three-day course for OCPDs at the Royal Malaysian Police College in Cheras a day earlier.
I said Bakri’s speech was a “most positive sign in the past 10 months that the police leadership is not totally resistant to public aspirations for police reform to become a world-class service and that the Royal Police Commission recommendations will not be a complete waste of time and resources”.
I had never been sparing in criticism of “black sheep” in leadership positions in the public service, whether in Police or any other branches of the government but my public record on looking after the welfare of the police personnel, whether in Parliament or outside, is an open book.
I had not only supported, but constantly put pressure on the government to improve the welfare, remuneration and working conditions of the police force so that Malaysia has an efficient, dedicated, contented and professional force to make Malaysia safe and secure for its citizens, visitors and investors.
In the current meeting of Parliament, for instance, I had criticized Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan for supporting the RM20 billion proposal to rent 34 helicopters for the police for the next 30 years as the money can be better spent on the police rank-and-file to improve their welfare and remuneration.
Let me ask Hamid when he is going to assume personal responsibility as the Home Minister for the daily deterioration of public security situation in the crime, and restore to all Malaysians their fundamental right to be free from crime and the fear of crime?
This week alone, there had been a spate of major crimes like a petrol kiosk cashier hacked to death by robbers in Ipoh, the murder of a salesman found burnt inside his car showroom in Penang and another Mat Rempit mob attack on five people in a car in Jalan Loke Yew, Kuala Lumpur until they lost consciousness.
As Home Minister, Hamid should direct the police to return to the basics to end their misallocation of priorities by maintaining as their topmost priority the fight against crime and to reduce crime instead of deploying limited police personnel and resources to harass and victimize responsible and law-abiding Malaysians, including senior citizens, who want just to exercise their democratic right to express their concerns about justice, freedom and democracy in Malaysia through peaceful gatherings or candlelight vigils.
Hamid should tell the police to keep an eye but to “stay off” from these peaceful gatherings, which are always peaceful and full of goodwill and camaraderie until the spell is broke by high-handed police provocations!
it is not a matter of ronnie being state exco or even MP that the police did not show respect. it is a matter of ronnie not being an umnoputera.
it is really damn ridiculous and stinks to highest heaven (to borrow from anwar) how the police can charge at a peaceful, unarmed crowd.
The ‘men-in-blue-uniforms’ from PDRM of late have shown and demonstrated to the general public that they are biased, unprofessional, arrogant and high-handed in carrying out their duties, especially to those in the Opposition. They are rotten to the core and do not deserve respect and praise from the people they are suppose to protect and serve.
In the case of YB Ronnie Liu who is Selangor state executive councillor, the police blundered, mishandled and did not accord him due respect and honour as a state cabinet minister. At state protocol,
YB Ronnie Liu ranks far higher than those ‘men-in-blue-uniforms’!
The police have never been rude to any UMNO member, be him/her is from the lowest of the party hierarchy.
What can we expect from the police when only the low achievers from our education system make it to the force and from one race to boot?
He has blood on his hands and he is scared and panicking. That is why he failed to see that LKS was commenting on the police force based on actual incidents. And not fanciful or fictitious ones.
I am lost of words to talk m ore about Syed Albar and certain police personalities.
As much as I respect Police Force should be loyal to the government of the day…..but to keep promoting their actions….as pro UMNO force and not Malaysian force….is so clear and low class police mentalities……not forgetting…bringing down…the morals and reputations of the lower class officers..keeping silent in shame….knowing their superior officers are playing dirty politics.
One one logical reason. Some are so corrupted…deep into it…have no choice ….but to keep favoring UMNO….their only..Godfather.
Hamid must have enjoyed himself too much overseas when he was a Foreign Minister. Enjoy bringing disgrace to Malaysia with his shameful interviews on international media.
Uncle Kit and the rest of DAP leaders have always been fighting for pay rise for the PDRM though DAP has been a long time victim of PDRM in the hands of UMNO/BN politicians. And when the govt cave in to the pressure, nothing was mention of the struggles by DAP.
PDRM is law onto themselves, that it seems not even Syed Hamid can control them.
What we need is a political leadership who is morally beyond reproach, to replace top leaders of PDRM with those who are more cognisant with the Federal Constitution and civil rights- lock stock and barrel. There needs to be a new paradigm shift in the way PDRM looks at civil rights and practising administrative neutrality.
This is clearly another reason why UMNO should not stay in power because for every day that they do, PDRM will continue getting its way (with enormous loss to the public) because it’s a symbiotic tradeoff – Minister does not shakeup PDRM, PDRM keeps quiet on UMNO’s law breaking.
Even assuming that we will eventually have an Independent Anti Corruption Commission, there is only so much the commission can do – investigating corruption is quite different from investigating incompetence, misinterpretation of policy or abuse of power. We really need IPCMC to check on the police.
///if the police could be so highhanded and ill-mannered when dealing with a Selangor State Exco, how could the ordinary man and woman in the street expect good manners and courtesy from the Police in their everyday interactions?///–kit
Obviously the police will not treat the Selangor State Exco the way they did if the Selangor government was under BN. So it is double standards. The police should be neutral but obviously it is taking side of the political parties. There should be a Royal Commission of Enquiry to ensure that police remain neutral in excuting their duties.
ronnie 2 yrs jailing, and fresh by-election will occur soon……
ps: i can tell the future..
Again, let me reiterate that PDRM cannot redeem itself from within, not today, not tomorrow nor any other future time. PDRM can only extradite itself from its current devious nature by an external, no nonsense, law abiding and disciplined officer from outside Malaysia. So be it, if that someone, happens to come from another country because the current ranks within have been too contaminated.
I’ll gladly support candidates from another Commonwealth country so long they have a clean, unblemished record of serving their office with the highest dignity and honour. I think we all want Malaysia to be a safe and secure place again, right?
The ‘men-in-blue-uniforms’ from PDRM. We should say the terror gang-in-blue from PDRM.
These bums are just pawns for the Umnoputras warlords.
Just look at the way they intimidated, harrassed the peaceful innocent gathering. It really sicken you.
Have you ever seen them take actions on these Umnoputra warlords who have been breaking the laws umpteen times. NEVER.
Hamid would say,
“Hei its not my problem. I didnt ask them to rob people, to kill somebody, to rape some women or to mat rempit about our roads.”
So watch your words. Dont expect me to be responsible. I am only the home minister for god’s sake!!!
Telling me to be responsible is like telling LKS to be responsible for mat rempit. Its the same.”
Damned! That bloody good argument aint it?
PDRM nowadays act without fear but with favor depending on whom they are arresting. They even laugh at the victims of crime when the latter makes police reports. You see them (traffic cops) performing their duties religiously hiding in bushes and behind corners.Remember how they treat the residents and paticipants involved in the BMC/Grand Saga,Bersih,Anti Isa vigils,HINDRAF. When Umno is involved no actions are taken but even provide escorts. Mahathir have said that we are a police state and he is not far from wrong.
dont we forget this moron lost the island of pedra banca to singapore. In all the seriousness of the world court he sticks out like a botak clown – no need any makeup – the idiocy shows
If this happens in other countries, the minister concerned would have voluntarilly resigned or commited suicide (in Japan).
They say…….We are the Champions for selective persecution, discrimination, double standard, hypocrisy, prejudice, biasness & sycopancy
They say…….We are the Champions for harassment, intimidation, bullying, terrorising & oppression.
Hamid:
When are you going to protect us by putting all of us under the ISA ?
looking at the malays that send fore their next of kin to join the government machineries are a true sad fact for the future of Malaysia.
they are totally being ‘used’ by umno as their tools to defend for umno.
whether the matter carries real facts of human rights , these … are truly blinded and deafen to follow orders given by umno.
see, i am not spiking up issue here ….
the truth is the malays have not much of a choice in their life from the day they are born as umno already dictates their entire lives.
so, no matter what we may voiced out , umno will never worry as they have already breed millions … that will loyal to their commands and cannot live another day with umno.
so, pray for the malays as they are the most pityful human ever born in Malaysia and they are like ASIMO …
Supprise? Nope…not a bit..because Ronnie is the Exco of an opposition state.
Remember how they treated Pairin when they arrested him while he was the CM of Sabah? He ambushed on the way to his office! That’s how the police treat opposition Adun and CM.
How can this happen to a nice person like Ronnie.
Malaysia negara kaya yang mencemerlangkan segelintir manusia keparat dan menghina serta menindas rakyat yang hidup melarat.
Ada mata, lihat.
Ada mulut, diam.
Ada telinga, dengar.
Ada pemimpin, keparat.
Ada polis, macam kucing kurap?
Ada mahkamah, tidak boleh diharap.
http://malaysia-update.blogspot.com/
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It is obvious….there are elements in the police force that are pushing you ……to fight fire with fire…..
Take responsibility? Have we suddenly become never never land. Better luck to count on Peter Pan to turn around the crime situation… We are closer to sheer chaos then change for the better.
Despite being a lawyer before becoming the Home Minister, Hamid does not know the law or worse still, does not know what democracy means! So we have a Home Minister who does not know how to manage home affairs but who has become a puppet on strings to BN!
When are Malaysians going to assume personal responsibility for rampant crime? Before I came to Malaysia, my experience of the police was more or less completely in line with a song every child in the UK knows: “My old man said follow the van” that ends by saying that when all else fails, you can trust a policeman, or according to some, you can’t trust volunteer policemen like you can a proper one. I note that the starting salary for a freshly trained police officer in the UK’s Metropolitan Police is over 30,000 pounds (RM200,000 last week, about RM150,000 this week!) per year. Perhaps they can afford to follow the letter of the law.
As a foreigner in Malaysia, I am stunned by the readiness of Malaysians to offer bribes to government officials, policemen included. The inevitable outcome of bribing government officials is dysfunctional government. The inevitable outcome of bribing policemen is more crime. Isn’t soliciting a crime a crime in itself in Malaysia? The crime solicited when a policeman is bribed is the same one as Ronnie Liu is charged with isn’t it? Obstruction / Perversion of Justice? I’d be interested to know which one carries the heavier penalty in Malaysia, the solicitation or the obstruction / perversion.
If Malaysians don’t want corruption and injustice, they could make a start by not sponsoring it. Who do you expect to protect you from injustice when you pay the police to NOT do their jobs? I apologise unreservedly to the Malaysian who pays their reasonably imposed penalties and contests unfair penalties in court. I have yet to meet you.
Hamid responsible?
He would say:
“Look at the Edu Min. Look at wot he did. Drop in varsity ranking. Fire VC. See the problem lies there. You have to deal with the problem there. Not the Min’s level. We Ministers are not responsible. Police failed to control crime. Whose problem? The criminals of course. We told them to to steal and do all sorts of crime. The police told them the same thing too. But they continue to do crime. Is that my problem?”
Errr Min Sir, but MU VC got fired. So would you fire IGP? Never mind if you are not responsible, which you actually should be. But at least change IGP. That would be nice.
My dear Orang Rojak, you are stunned because you are real rojak. Let me enlighten you ok. It’s not the readiness but a matter of do you wanna the job done ? For instant,you apply for a permit,you do the normal submission and wait for the efficiency approval,right, Mr.Rojak ? After days,weeks and months gone,you didn’t even been acknowledged.So what’s next ? Your friends who applied for the same permit for example,all obtained it with almostly instantly . So how do you feel ? Get angry,bang the official’s door and get arrested,is this what you wanna ? If the permit is your bread and butter busisess what would you do ? Make police report or report to ACA and get arrested for false accusation.It’s been proven and that’s why you find readiness to give ,it may look like illegal but it’s get thing done. This is all common knowledge. Just ask,should you not believe me, ask,any traders’ friends of yours or just come to know,they will confirm my statement.
saudara LKS do you notice most quetions posted by DAP members in parliament need to wait for 3 -4 days for an answer? why ?
parliament is the place for real mind trade for a solution?
i heard most quetions were answer by academies at universities level sitting at parliament session.
it is true?
how come the ministers can’t give an answers for all issues posted to them respective field which i think is thier duty to answers.
We have seen so many cases of Police reports lodged against UMNO reps and yet we have not heard that anyone is being charged. Look at the Police cases lodged against UMNO by calling our Sultan names and protesting against the Sultan’s decision, racist remarks from MBs and division heads, etc. None of them has even been called to give their statements.
There are so many Police Reports that has NFA stamped, just because it involves UMNO whereas all Police Reports about the oppositions are being investigated and recommended to be charged even though it is old.
High time that PR requested the state Police chief to look into all the reports lodged against UMNO and get some results. There will be no action unless PR becomes the Govt. So let’s do change the Govt. The sooneer the better!!!
It’s a trend in Bolehland to blame heaven and hell, and not themselves. All our BN ministers were “moulded” this way! It’s a NATIONAL PRACTICE, a classic example of MALAYSIA BOLEH (MATI)!
Yes, crime is increasing more during daytime. My friend was a vicitm of a motor-vehicle robbery on 27.9.08 at Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru. After buying buka puasa snacks from a bazaar, he arrived at his mother-in-law’s house, parked his car and was getting the kids out of the car while his wife closed the iron gate. Suddenly, 3 robbers of Indian-descent bearing parangs rushed in forcing th gate open and brandishing the weapons at my friend’s and his wife’s necks. they took all jewelery, watches, handphones and my friend’s 4-month old Toyota Camry car key. They forced my friend into the backseat flanked by two robbers and the third drove the car. The fourth robber, a lookout was in a green nissan Sentra parked just outside the house. in their hurry and not fa,iliar with the route they drove into a dead end at Jalan Biru Muda. The neighbours immediately called the police with details of both vehicles. The officer attending to the call asked stupid questions like, “Are they still there?”, “how are they armed?”, “who are you?, “what is your name and I/C number?”, etc. Going by the book for fear of prank calls. Precious time was wasted. The police patrol arrived 25 minutes after the call as there were none around and they had to despatch one from downtown Johor Bahru.
At the meantime, the bungling robbers holding my friend down with parangs had to ask for his help to guide them out to the main road, Jalan Sri Pelangi. My friend requested for the return of his wallet with his MyKad. The robbers in their haste stopped just at a stone’s throw from the police station along Jalan Sri Pelangi, pushed my friend out and threw the wallet after him (I guess a gesture of thanks for his help). They were headed towards Taman Sri Tebrau but was caught in a long queue at the traffic lights.
My friend quickly ran to the police station to lodge a report with the officer on duty. The lady officer asked for his IC, name , etc. Exasperated, my friend repeated his claim that he was robbed of his car and the robbers are still at the traffic lights. Only then did she relented to report the robbery by telephone. There were many police vehicles grey Wajas at the station belonging the investigation dept. Any of the police officer could have immediately responded by using one of those vehicles to launch a chase to stop the robbers. Instead the officer played by the book to take my friend’s report. He was in state of shock and trauma. Only two days later did the investigating sergeant called to my friend to enquire the stolen car’s chassis and engine number. Shouldn’t they have recorded this at the first instance when my friend reported the loss? This unprofessional handling (or mishandling) of the situation has eroded my friend’s confidence in our police.
If this situation was to recur, he was advised to first call the taxi station an offer an immediate reward of RM500 for information of the stolen vehicle and a further RM1500 for the recovery of the vehicle. A taxi-driver will be sent to collect the RM500 then he rallies his colleagues to the search. They will inform the owner of the location of the stolen vehicle and you may then arrange with the police to pick it up. (with proper documentation, registration card, of course)
This is a more efficient way if you wish to recover your vehicle assuming you do not have the immobilizer or GPS tracking i.e Captor.
Our Hamid is in wonderland= bolehland and is refusing to wake up.When he wakes up he will be ISAed and could not stand the reality happening in Kumumting,Taiping. HA HA HA !!!
The botak is really sleeping. Remember the case of Tan Hoon Cheng, the reporter who was arrested under ISA? Botak had the cheeks to say that he did not know of the arrest and that PDRM had acted on their own accord! This is ridiculous, isn’t the PDRM answerable to the Home Minister and shouldn’t the arrest be approved by the Home Minister’s department before execution? Carry on sleeping botak!!!!
Or perhaps he is telling the whole country and the world that the Home Minister is under PDRM, so much so that PDRM can act on their own accord without the knowledge of the Home Minister? In that case, we should abolish the Kementerian Dalam Negeri and set up a Kementerian PDRM and place the Home Minister in the Jabatan Dalam Negeri under Kementerian PDRM!