The Red Bean Army witch-hunt

Jeswan Kaur | July 14, 2013
Free Malaysia Today

If BN thinks it can mislead the rakyat by tricking them into believing the Red Bean Army is the real threat back home, it is mistaken.

COMMENT

The federal government seems to be in a disarray, going by its classic sense of missing the woods for the trees.

Instead of tackling the hard-pressed issues beleaguring the rakyat, the Barisan Nasional government has decided it has a bigger battle to fight – that too against an entity called the Red Bean Army, whom BN claims is opposition DAP funded and supported.

So much so that BN is accusing DAP of spending RM100 million since 2008 to fund the Red Bean Army – a claim that remains unsubstantiated and has been refuted several times by DAP’s national advisor, Lim Kit Siang.

Still, BN refuses to pay any heed to the fact that DAP has no hand in sponsoring anything called the ‘Red Bean Army’ (RBA).

Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has gone on to say that the government will come down hard on the RBA, including using the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998; the Penal Code; and Facebook to counter it and others who use the Internet to defame the police force.

“There are two ways to take action against cases of defamation. One, criminal action, two, civil action,” the Home Minister told the Dewan Rakyat today during a question session on Wednesday.

The BN government is sore that the RBA, an alleged group of opposition-funded cyber troopers and its ilk have been continuously spreading lies about the police on the Internet.

Ahmad Zahid’s response was prompted by a question from Ikmal Hisham Abdul Aziz (Tanah Merah – BN) on what action the police would take against the Red Bean Army.

Ikmal had condemned the RBA saying: “It is unfortunate that there are some quarters in this country who do not know how to be grateful, who purposefully mock and discredit the police force, particularly through social media such as Facebook and blogs.

“Does the police force intend to set up a special team to investigate the slander hurled against them, and to answer every allegation thrown their way through the social media…including the endless slander from the Red Bean Army cyber troopers?”

Clearly, Ahmad Zahid and Ikmal are doing what they know best – play politics. Had these two BN politicians been a little more rakyat-conscious, they would have realised that the enemy at hand is not a bunch of IT-savvy individuals whom are being targetted for discrediting the police force.

The issue that the BN government is trying so hard to hide is that there is a big problem with the police force, no thanks to some cops who are under the delusion that they are above the law.

Hiding bigger crimes

Are Ahmad Zahid and Ikmal not aware of the never-ending custodial deaths in the country? Have they also conveniently erased the fact that there are one too many rotten apples in the police force and who have no qualms murdering people, raping women in police cells and are ever hungry for their palms to be greased?

The BN government is all riled up with the RBA alleging that it has demeaned the police profession. But what does the rakyat make of cops who do everything wrong by the book?

How should the rakyat react when despite repeated calls being made for the IPCMC, the central government has shown no interest in tackling the malaise affecting the police force?

Early this month, High Court judge VT Singham in his judgment had declared that former Selangor police chief Khalid Abu Bakar, now the inspector-general of police, was responsible for the death of detainee A Kugan while in police custody four years ago.

Singham pointed out that no person of any position or rank should take the court for granted and attempt to hide the truth to escape liability.

“Police officers and Khalid must be reminded that their conduct lies not in the cold print of the statute book but in their integrity and conscience,” Singham said in his judgment.

The judge who opted for early retirement last month after delivering his verdict on the Kugan case, also said that police officers must protect detainees, not abuse their powers.

“If the unlawful act is not checked, the belief that no harm can be caused on police officers will forever be reinforced,” Singham said.

The rakyat has realised that BN will do nothing to persecute Khalid over his role in Kugan’s death. And neither will the judge’s comment that the setting up of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) must not be delayed to enable the public to feel safe and assured will ever be taken seriously.

Fooling the rakyat all the time

If BN thinks it can mislead the rakyat by tricking them into believing the RBA is the real threat back home, it is mistaken.

The people are no longer at the mercy of the federal government when it comes to finding out what the real truth is; be it the Internet or other alternatives, the rakyat is well aware of how best to get to the bottom of a truth.

So to accuse the RBA of tainting the image of the ‘men in blue’ is nothing but another one of BN’s calculated moves to hide the many wrongdoings being perpetuated by it.

The people believe that it is high-time the police force is taken to task for the felonies undertaken by some cops, among them being the recent act of arresting and manhandling an alleged traffic offenderby four police officers in Medan Imbi, Kuala Lumpur.

And the rakyat will find the claims of a fomer drug pusher who claimed that he paid between RM30,000 and RM50,000 a month to the police for protection and information on police stakeouts believeable.

But what the people will not tolerate is the shenanigans of corrupted politicians out to misled and betray the rakyat’s trust in a nation whose’s diversity the people hope can be salvaged.