Posted on

Sombre curtain closers marking Abdullah’s abysmal failures in police reforms

The police used excessive and unnecessary force today, firing tear gas and water cannons, against peaceful protestors gathered to submit a memorandum to the Yang di Pertuan Agong at the Istana Negara opposing the use of English to teach science and mathematics from Standard One.

It is another example of the failure and futility of the blue-ribboned Royal Police Commission set up by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi when he first took office in 2003, and which came out with 125 recommendations to create an efficient, incorruptible, professional, world-class police service with three core functions to reduce crime, eradicate corruption and uphold human rights.

In Abdullah’s last hundred days as the fifth Prime Minister, illustrations galore are being given by the police highlighting the failure and futility of the Royal Police Commission, with a former Chief Justice, Tun Dzaiddin Abdullah in the chair and the country’s most famous and longest serving Inspector-General of Police, Tun Hanif Omar as deputy chairman.

These recent police outrages and scandals include: Continue reading “Sombre curtain closers marking Abdullah’s abysmal failures in police reforms”

Posted on

Pak Lah’s Legacy

By Tunku Aziz
Mysinchew.com

As the prime minister begins the process of winding down his stewardship of this country that he inherited from his now much despised predecessor, he would have been less than human if he did not reflect upon the highlights and the low points of his stewardship that in turn cheered and depressed him.

He must wonder why, after such a promising start, fate should have intervened to deal him such a cruel hand. The humiliation of being forced to get on the bicycle and ride off alone into the political sunset prematurely has been, he must admit, largely self-inflicted.

He must sometimes wonder why he was so incredibly naïve as to swallow the proverbial hook, line and sinker, the assurances and protestations of complete and undying loyalty so glibly and convincingly uttered by his closest associates.

I personally would not myself touch them with a long barge pole, but then I suppose I am of a suspicious nature.

When Abdullah Badawi took over the reigns of government, I was among those invited by the media to comment on what his legacy might be. We were swept and overwhelmed by the euphoria of the moment, the dawn of a blessed new era and the end of a morally degrading and debilitating regime. Continue reading “Pak Lah’s Legacy”