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Khalid should stop acting as if he is mere apologist for UMNO’s Red Shirts which will undermine police honour and morale as overewhelming majority of policemen and policewomen are professional and non-partisan who want to be guardians of the Constitution, law and order in the country and not play political games

The Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, should stop acting as if he is mere apologist for UMNO’s Red Shirts which will undermine police honour and morale as the overwhelming majority of policemen and policewomen are professional and non-partisan who want to be the guardians of the Constitution, law and order of the country and do not want to play any political games.

The judgment by the High Court judge Justice Nathan Balan yesterday that the police are legally-bound to ensure the Red Shirts movement holds its counter-rally at a different location to prevent clashes with Bersih 2.0 supporters tomorrow should remind Khalid of his sworn and supreme duties to serve the country and not any single individual and to uphold the Constitution, law and order in the country.

In his ruling rejecting an application for an injunction to prevent Bersih 5 and a counter-rally from taking place in the capital city, Justice Nanthan said Section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly Act stated that the police must redirect any counter-rallies if they knew that clashes were imminent.

He said: “Section 18 of the PAA acts as a safety valve to diffuse any potential conflict therefore it is the duty of the police to prevent a clash or conflict should there is a possibility that it would eventuate.”

It is most shocking that in the past few weeks, the highest authorities in the land, including the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Home Minister, and the Inspector-General of Police seem to be totally ignorant of the existence of Section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA) 2012 which was enacted to deal with the situation created by Red Shirts want to have a counter-rally in response to Bersih 5 rally.

Let all Malaysians be aware of Section 18 of the PAA on “Counter Assembly” which reads:

“18. If the Officer in Charge of a Police District receives a notification of a counter assembly and it is evident that the organization of the counter assembly will cause conflict between the participants of the assemblies, the Officer in Charge of the Police District shall give an alternative for the counter assembly to be organized at another time, date or place.” Continue reading “Khalid should stop acting as if he is mere apologist for UMNO’s Red Shirts which will undermine police honour and morale as overewhelming majority of policemen and policewomen are professional and non-partisan who want to be guardians of the Constitution, law and order in the country and not play political games”

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Is IGP’s preposterous statement a signal to the Red Shirts that the police will not uphold the law and ignore Section 18 of Peaceful Assembly Act, allowing the Red Shirts to go on a rampage tomorrow?

All decent and law-abiding Malaysians are shocked by the statement by the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, who asked the preposterous question why those who do not abide by the law are requesting for police protection, asserting that “Those who want to ask for protection should obey the law first”.

Is the IGP’s response to former Bersih chairperson Datuk Ambiga Sreenivasan who had said that there are existing legal provisions that can be applied to prevent the Bersih rally and the Red Shirts counter-rally to occur simultaneously a signal, a blank cheque or even an invitation to the Red Shirts that they could do their worst as the police will not uphold the law and will ignore Section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly Act, allowing the Red Shirts to go on a rampage tomorrow?

Using Khalid’s logic, what should be the Inspector-General of Police’s role in a country which is regarded world-wide as a ”global kleptocracy”?

Is it to tell the Prime Minister and the government that they cannot expect the police to protect them and uphold the law until and unless they purge and cleanse Malaysia of the infamy and ignominy of such an epithet, as the Police and IGP do not want to be known worldwide as Police and IGP of a “global kleptocracy”? Continue reading “Is IGP’s preposterous statement a signal to the Red Shirts that the police will not uphold the law and ignore Section 18 of Peaceful Assembly Act, allowing the Red Shirts to go on a rampage tomorrow?”

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Prime Minister and Inspector-General of Police will be guilty of grave dereliction of duty if they fail to uphold the law and allow the Red Shirts to go on provocative rampage, resulting in clashes and ugly incidents on Saturday

Prime Minister Najib Razak has expressed concern over an imminent physical clash between ‘red shirt’ and ‘yellow shirt’ protesters during the Bersih 5 peaceful rally in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.

He said: “If one side wants to protest and the side that wants to protect the government is compelled to come out … but I don’t want any physical clash.”

The Prime Minister and the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar will be guilty of grave dereliction of duty if they fail to uphold the law to ensure peace and order and instead, allow the Red Shirts to go on a provocative rampage resulting in clashes and ugly incidents on Saturday.

The Prime Minister and the Inspector-General of Police could not be ignorant of Section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012, which was enacted to deal with exactly the type of situation which the Red Shirts have created – a counter-demonstration.

The Red Shirts are fully entitled to hold a counter-demonstration in support of Najib’s undemocratic and kleptocratic rule, but they are not entitled to threaten or provoke breaches of the peace and acts of violence. Continue reading “Prime Minister and Inspector-General of Police will be guilty of grave dereliction of duty if they fail to uphold the law and allow the Red Shirts to go on provocative rampage, resulting in clashes and ugly incidents on Saturday”

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In Malaysia’s heartland, a call to action over corruption

Daily Mail
By AFP
15 November 2016

With yellow flags waving and vuvuzelas blaring, a convoy of two dozen cars snakes into the sleepy Malaysian town of Batu Gajah, breaking the rural calm with warnings of corruption and national decay.

For nearly seven weeks, Malaysia’s leading pro-reform group has waged an information insurgency through towns and villages nationwide, shining light on a scandal involving Prime Minister Najib Razak and state-owned fund 1MDB.

In public speeches, flyers and door-to-door canvassing, the unprecedented campaign attempts to explain a highly complex and seemingly distant affair in what is essentially hostile territory — Malaysia’s pro-government rural heartland.

“We have planted the seed. The seed where people actually start to ask what is (the) 1MDB scandal all about?” said Maria Chin Abdullah, chair of civil-society alliance Bersih, during a recent swing through rural central Malaysia. Continue reading “In Malaysia’s heartland, a call to action over corruption”

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Demonstrations and counter-demonstrations ― Where lies the government’s duty?

― Lim Wei Jiet
Malay Mail Online
November 5, 2016

NOVEMBER 5 ― Of late, there have been statements by ministers and authorities which seem to have blamed Bersih for the threatening menace of the Red Shirts come November 19.

Khairy Jamaluddin, in his infinite wisdom, said: “…if Bersih does not do anything, the reds would certainly not do anything, so the burden lies on Bersih. The best way is to not allow the Bersih 5 rally to happen”. The Home Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi similarly opined: “You see, if there is no yellow, there will be no red. If there is no Maria Chin, there will surely be no Jamal Yunos”.

With respect, such line of thinking is simply erroneous. Imagine this scenario ― a group of students are enjoying a game of football during P.E. lesson. The school bully appears from nowhere, pushes several students to the ground and snatches the ball away like the jerk he is. A brouhaha ensues. The teacher comes along and not only does omit to discipline the bully, but proceeds to scold the students for causing him problems and orders the students back to class.

How’s that for logic?

One can’t put it more simply than O’Brien J in R v. Londonderry Justices (1891) 28 LR Fr. 440: “If danger arises from the exercise of lawful rights resulting in a breach of the peace, the remedy is the presence of sufficient force to prevent the result, not the legal condemnation of those who exercise those rights”

In other words, stop the bully, not reprimand the peaceful demonstrators! Continue reading “Demonstrations and counter-demonstrations ― Where lies the government’s duty?”

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Call on IGP Khalid to reprimand and penalise police personnel who abused their powers in arresting Maria Chin and worse, harassing and intimidating Malaysians for taking Bersih flyers as it constitutes no crime under the law

The excessive and unreasonable action by the police in Kota Marudu to arrest the Bersih chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah for distributing Bersih flyers in Langkon, Sabah to promote the Bersih 5 rally slated on Nov. 19 to call for free, fair and clean elections must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.

Even worse is the police intimidation of members of the public for taking the Bersih flyers, as the police taking down the identity card numbers of those who take the Bersih flyers and police threats to arrest the members of the public concerned is nothing short of illegal police harassment and abuse of powers.

It is no crime under the law for anyone to take or receive the Bersih flyers, and the police are doing themselves and public respect for their independence and credibility no service by acting completely outside the province of the law in harassing or intimidating members of the public for taking or receiving the Bersih flyers.

All responsible political parties and members of the public want to be friends of the police, for the police are performing an important national service and function to uphold the law to maintain order, peace and harmony.

But the police will forfeit public respect for the police, who will cease to be friends of the people, if the police themselves break the law by indiscriminately and illegally abusing police powers as in case of the Bersih 5 publicity event in Langkon, Kota Marudu yesterday.

I call on the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar to reprimand and penalise police personnel who abused their powers in arresting Maria Chin and worse, harassing and intimidating Malaysians for taking Bersih flyers as it constitutes no crime under the law.

I hope the IGP will be as “quick on the draw” with the police abuses of powers in the arrest of Maria Chin and the police threats to members of the public for taking Bersih flyers, as he has shown with regard to complaints by members of the establishment against critics of the government. Continue reading “Call on IGP Khalid to reprimand and penalise police personnel who abused their powers in arresting Maria Chin and worse, harassing and intimidating Malaysians for taking Bersih flyers as it constitutes no crime under the law”

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What would have happened if Bersih 5 supporters had been as unruly, provocative and violent as the Red Shirts in Teluk Intan on Saturday?

What would have happened if the Bersih 5 supporters had been as unruly, provocative and violentn as the Red Shirts in Teluk Intan on Saturday?

Undoubtedly, the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar would have tweeted for the whole world to know about the Bersih 5 supporters’ provocative and violent conduct, how they had deliberately defied the law and order in the country as well as tweeted his “instant” directive to the relevant police officers to bring the offending persons to book or to hunt them down if they do not surrender themselves to the authorities within 24 hours!

More than 72 hours have passed since the hooliganism and thuggery exhibited by the Red Shirts in Teluk Intan, but there is not a squeak either from the Inspector-General of Police or the top police authorities!

What is even more ignominious and infamous is that the Barisan Nasional political leaders are using the Red Shirts hooliganism and thuggery in Teluk Intan as an excuse to issue seemingly even-handed calls to organisers of the Berish 5 and Red Shirt rallies to call off their demonstrations, publicly exhibiting the continuing loss of the UMNO/BN leaders of their moral compass to be unable to distinguish right from wrong. Continue reading “What would have happened if Bersih 5 supporters had been as unruly, provocative and violent as the Red Shirts in Teluk Intan on Saturday?”

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Singer-actress Soo Wincci says demanding Najib’s resignation a ‘responsibility’

by Nabihah Hamid
The Malaysian Insider
20 December 2015

Malaysian singer-actress Soo Wincci recently made headlines when sponsors pulled out of her first solo concert in the country, after she made a video demanding Datuk Seri Najib Razak resign as prime minister.

But insisting that the show must go on, the former beauty queen bankrolled the October 31 concert herself and managed to attract a packed stadium that included opposition supporters, politicians and celebrated local singer Siti Nurhaliza.

Looking back on the entire saga nearly two months later, the winner of the Miss World Malaysia 2008 said she had no regrets about releasing her outspoken video, made at the same time as the Bersih 4 rally in late August, despite the troubles it brought her. Continue reading “Singer-actress Soo Wincci says demanding Najib’s resignation a ‘responsibility’”

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Puad Zarkashi should be sacked as JASA Director-General and be made to personally bear the costs of the JASA booklet “Uprising of the Red Shirts, Sept. 16” or he should be charged for CBT if the booklet is paid for from public funds

Datuk Mohd Puad Zarkashi should be sacked as Department of Special Affairs (JASA) Director-General and be made to personally bear the costs of the JASA booklet “Uprising of the Red Shirts, Sept. 16” distributed at the UMNO General Assembly or he should be charged for the offence of criminal breach of trust if the booklet is paid for from public funds.

UMNO Secretary-General Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said Putrajaya does not support the Sept. 16 “Red Shirt” rally and if this is the case, how can JASA, a government department, be the publisher and distributor of the booklet, especially as JASA functions as a disseminator of government polices and propaganda?

Or is this another case of an increasingly fractured and schizophrenic UMNO/BN government, where the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing, or the right hand is not allowed to interfere with what the left hand is doing even if aware of what is happening? Continue reading “Puad Zarkashi should be sacked as JASA Director-General and be made to personally bear the costs of the JASA booklet “Uprising of the Red Shirts, Sept. 16” or he should be charged for CBT if the booklet is paid for from public funds”

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Najib is sounding the death knell for Global Movement of Moderates if he is not prepared to uphold moderation as represented by Bersih 4 and marginalize extremism as represented by Sept. 16 Red Shirts Rally

The cat is out of the bag – the mission of irresponsible, dishonest and insidious propagandists in the UMNO/BN camp out to twist facts, distort the truth and even tell outright lies and falsehoods to influence public perceptions and events.

This comes from the admission by the UMNO Secretary-General Tengku Adnan yesterday blaming the UMNO-owned Utusan Malaysia for exacerbating the diplomatic flap involving the Chinese ambassador to Malaysia Huang Huikang who, to quote Adnan, went to Petaling Street with good intentions but Utusan Malaysia took Ronnie Liu and Teresa Kok’s blog and “twisted” them into the headlines, and it became a problem!

There would be no kid-glove treatment of Utusan Malaysia if it is not a UMNO-owned publication or the authorities would have descended on it like a ton of bricks, even suspending or cancelling its publication licence for activities prejudicial to racial harmony and national interests.

This highlights the UMNO/BN administration’s hypocrisy and double-standards especially as this is not the first time that Utusan had been guilty of journalistic excesses, abuses and anti-national activities prejudicial to social peace, racial harmony and national unity. Continue reading “Najib is sounding the death knell for Global Movement of Moderates if he is not prepared to uphold moderation as represented by Bersih 4 and marginalize extremism as represented by Sept. 16 Red Shirts Rally”

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What the Red Shirt rally was really about

— Ooi Kee Beng
The Malay Mail Online
September 28, 2015

SEPTEMBER 28 — Following the Red Shirt rally in Kuala Lumpur on Sept 16, discussions have been rife that the embattled government of Prime Minister Najib Razak was “playing the race card” to bolster support and to distract the public — especially its Malay supporters — from distressing issues at hand.

It is true that the demonstration was a purely Malay rally, but what is essential to note is that while the initial impulse to organise it came from people who were undoubtedly trying to highlight and deepen the racial divide, by the time the event did take place, much of that had been deftly turned into a show of support for the beleaguered Prime Minister by his staunchest followers.

In the end, few incidents took place and the riot police did not have much trouble keeping at bay rowdy demonstrators, who were symbolically trying to get into the city’s Chinatown.

This is an important point to highlight: The racialising did not spread. Continue reading “What the Red Shirt rally was really about”

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As Malaysia’s PM struggles in graft scandal, his party plays the race card

John Chalmers and Raju Gopalakrishnan
Reuters/Channel News Asia
23 Sep 2015

KUALA LUMPUR: When thousands of Malay Muslims marched through Kuala Lumpur last week to support his scandal-wracked government, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak kept his distance.

He neither attended nor officially endorsed the racially charged rally by members of Malaysia’s majority community.

But several members of Najib’s political party told Reuters they helped an ultranationalist Malay group stage the “Malay Pride” rally. Critics accused the organisers of stoking racial tensions in multicultural Malaysia to distract from a multi-million-dollar corruption scandal swirling around the prime minister.

Protesters at the rally held signs reading “Don’t insult Malays and Islam” and “#najibstays”. Some were eventually dispersed by riot police outside Chinatown, where many Chinese businesses are located. Continue reading “As Malaysia’s PM struggles in graft scandal, his party plays the race card”

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Red Shirts do not represent the Muslims

By Tajuddin Rosli
Free Malaysia Today
September 23, 2015

After Bersih participants were filled with pride. After the Red Shirts rally most are filled with shame

COMMENT

Incidents that took place on 16 September coinciding with Malaysia Day have shamed the majority of Malays throughout the country. For the first time ever, I went to work with my face down, feeling ashamed to be called a Malay. I could sense my non-Malay colleagues looking at me and laughing in their heads to what my people have become. I had to put on a brave smile and pretend nothing ever happened.

But the reality is Himpunan Rakyat Bersatu has shown the world how low some Malays in the country have sunk to.

Please don’t get me wrong. The hooligans who gathered for the rally in no way represent the silent majority of Malays in the country who are civilized. Unfortunately, just as Bersih 4.0 was called a Chinese gathering because the majority who turned out were Chinese, Himpunan Rakyat Bersatu was a dark day for the Malays in Malaysia. Those in attendance did not look like they belong in today’s world. They seemed to look like a bunch from the Period of Jahiliyyah who travelled through time to get here. Continue reading “Red Shirts do not represent the Muslims”

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Malaysia does not want to be a battleground of “yellow T-shirts” versus “red T-shirts” as we want all Malaysians united behind the Malaysian Dream for an united, harmonious, democratic, just, prosperous and progressive nation

Last week, Malaysia saw a 4-hour Red Shirts Rally in Kuala Lumpur as a counter to a 34-hour Yellow T-Shirts Bersih 4 overnight rally on August 29/30.

There can be no greater differences between the Red Shirts Rally and the Yellow T-Shirts Rally.

Firstly, the Yellow T-Shirts Bersih 4 Rally transcended race and was participated by hundreds of thousands of Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region, gender, age or politics, who came together with one common national purpose – good governance and clean, free and fair elections.

Those who participated in the two-day Bersih 4 Rally never thought there could be any racial clash or confrontation, for that was furthest from their mind as they gathered not for or against any race but for the sake of a better Malaysia for all races.

The Bersih 4 participants were worried that there might be trouble, but not of any racial nature – for their only worry was that the Police might not be independent and professional enough and might wantonly and arbitrarily fire tear gas and shoot water cannons into a peaceful and defenceless crowds. That was why some of the Bersih 4 participants armed themselves with “goggles” and “smelling salts” not as weapons of offence but to protect themselves.

The Red Shirts Rally on the other invoked fear of racial incidents right from the beginning of the announcement of the event immediately after the Bersih 4 overnight rally, and for a fortnight, the country was inundated with highly-charged images of racial slurs, confrontation and even bloodbath, and the objective of the Red Shirts Rally veered from “Kebangkitan Maruah Melayu” to “counter Chinese Bersih 4”, “Teach Chinese DAP a lesson”, “Defend Najib Razak as Prime Minister” among others. Continue reading “Malaysia does not want to be a battleground of “yellow T-shirts” versus “red T-shirts” as we want all Malaysians united behind the Malaysian Dream for an united, harmonious, democratic, just, prosperous and progressive nation”

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Ali Rustam and the prolonged May 13 trauma

Aidila Razak
Malaysiakini
21st Sept 2015

COMMENT National Silat Federation (Pesaka) chief Mohd Ali Rustam seems to be suffering from prolonged trauma.

The symptoms were striking in his interview with Mingguan Malaysia yesterday on the achievements of Himpunan Rakyat Bersatu on Sept 16.

Asked what the rally, meant to ‘reclaim Malay dignity’ had achieved, Ali turned Dr Who to travel close to five decades into time to the race riots of 1969.

“They (Bersih 4 organisers and participants) try to show that Kuala Lumpur belongs to Bersih and the DAP gang, and Malays should balik kampung (go back to the villages). But now the villagers are coming to Kuala Lumpur.

“They think we have lost our self-worth and that Kuala Lumpur does not belong to various races. They think Malays don’t belong to Kuala Lumpur, and it is only for DAP and Bersih.

“They try to show they are brave and that Malays are not. They held rallies four times, and yet no Malays were brave enough to fight back,” he said.

Note the mention of taunts of ‘balik kampung’. Continue reading “Ali Rustam and the prolonged May 13 trauma”

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Umno’s red terror gambit

by Dennis Ignatius
Malaysiakini
21st Sept 2015

COMMENT When illiberal regimes lose their legitimacy, when they run out of excuses, when they feel their power slipping away, they almost always resort to scaremongering and scapegoating.

Suddenly, imaginary threats are everywhere. Everyone who does not toe the line becomes an enemy, an agent of dark unseen forces, part of some sinister conspiracy. All criticism, all dissent becomes seditious, unpatriotic, anti-national, a threat to national unity.

The ensuing tensions then provide the context and justification for further repression and for increased curtailment of fundamental liberties. What’s left of democratic space slowly vanishes.

Is the same thing now happening in Malaysia? Continue reading “Umno’s red terror gambit”

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If Cabinet on Wednesday will not apologise for shameful abdication of responsibility in giving “green light” for divisive and racist Sept. 16 Red Shirts rally, will the Ministers step forward to tender separate individual apologies?

A day immediately after the Sept. 16 Red Shirts Malay rally, I had asked the Prime Minister and the Cabinet to apologise to Malaysians for the most shameful abdication of responsibility in allowing Malaysia Day to be desecrated and racial harmony and social peace to be undermined by the divisive, racially-charged and provocative Red Shirts rally.

It does not appear that Najib will be ready to tender such an apology, as he had transformed his “silent blessing” before the Red Shirts rally to active endorsement after the rally, closing his eyes, ears and mind to the racist slurs, provocations and breaches of law committed by the participants of the Red Shirts rally.

If Cabinet on Wednesday are not prepared to apologise for its shameful abdication of responsibility in giving “green light” for the divisive and racist Sept. 16 Red Shirts rally, will the Ministers step forward to tender separate individual apologies?

I still hope that Najib can realise that he is Prime Minister for all Malaysians, and not just for Malays, UMNO or an UMNO faction. Continue reading “If Cabinet on Wednesday will not apologise for shameful abdication of responsibility in giving “green light” for divisive and racist Sept. 16 Red Shirts rally, will the Ministers step forward to tender separate individual apologies?”

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Deepening Malay Polarization More Dangerous Than Inter-Racial Divisions

Bakri Musa
www.bakrimusa.com
21st Sept 2015

Over 46 years ago a largely Chinese group of demonstrators celebrating their party’s electoral victory triggered Malaysia’s worst race riot. Last Wednesday, September 16, 2015, an exclusively Malay rally in predominantly Chinese Petaling Street of Kuala Lumpur triggered only the riot police’s water cannons.

What flowed on Petaling Street last Wednesday was clear water, not red blood as in 1969. There was also minimal property damage (except for loss of business) and no loss of life. That is significant; that is progress.

Malaysia has come a long way since 1969, the current shrill race hysteria notwithstanding. However leaders, political and non-political, Malays as well as non-Malays, are still trapped in their time-warped racial mentality of the 1960s. They still view the nation’s race dynamics primarily as Malays versus non-Malays.

That is understandable as the horrific memories of that 1969 race tragedy, as well as the much earlier and more brutal Bintang Tiga reign of terror, had been seared into the collective Malaysian consciousness, permanently warping our national perception.

The challenge today is less the risk of inter-racial conflagration of the 1969 variety, more a Malay civil war similar to what is now happening in the Arab world and what has happened on the Korean Peninsula. Last Wednesday’s red-shirt rally illustrates this point. Continue reading “Deepening Malay Polarization More Dangerous Than Inter-Racial Divisions”

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Bersih: A racist rally?

– Nur Adilah
The Malaysian Insider
20 September 2015

At the mention of “bersih”, the thing that comes to mind is all that is good. And that is according to how it is literally understood.

Putting “bersih” in the Malaysian context, however, will get us to a different meaning with various connotations.

On one hand, Bersih is held in high regard, while at the other spectrum, Bersih is shown in a bad light.

I say that Bersih is not just about wearing yellow; it carries a strong message to the government in power – to change or to be changed.

The reason the Bersih 4 rally was made illegal was, perhaps, because of the call for our prime minister to leave office. The call was said to be unconstitutional, thus the banning of what appeared to be a peaceful demonstration.

The demand to remove the prime minister from the Cabinet probably stood out from the rest; if all the manifestos are compiled in a book, the said demand would be highlighted in neon yellow. Continue reading “Bersih: A racist rally?”