KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 1 ― The arrest of Penang’s volunteer patrol unit (PPS) members proves the police are not afraid to haul up offenders, even though “arrogant” Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng had dared to challenge the force on the group’s legitimacy, Utusan Malaysia said today.

The Malay language daily said the police were right to detain the PPS members as “we shouldn’t allow any group to be big-headed just because they govern the state”.

“What the police did was not politically motivated. On the contrary, it was to ensure that all parties respect the law. If an organisation is declared illegal, then it has to be dissolved.

“But it is proven that PPS intentionally want to challenge the police just because they feel they are protected under the state’s protection,” Awang Selamat wrote today in his daily column in the Umno mouthpiece.

Awang is the pseudonym used to represent the collective voice of the newspaper’s editors.

In a massive round-up after the Merdeka parade in Penang yesterday, 154 PPS members were arrested and taken into police custody, following IGP Khalid's claim that the state-sanctioned body is an illegal one.

State executive councillor Phee Boon Poh, the state official overseeing PPS, was subsequently arrested.

According to Penang’s northeast district police Chief ACP Mior Faridalatrash Wahid, they are being detained to assist in investigations under Section 43 of the Societies Act 1966.

Today, he confirmed that 20 women and those over the age of 60 were released yesterday, except Phee.

The police are now applying for a remand order for the remaining PPS detainees, he added.

Meanwhile, lawyers have said that although PPS is not a registered organisation, it has not been gazetted as an outlawed organisation, despite the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar calling it “illegal”.

Those detained therefore can take legal action against the police force for wrongful detention, they said.

Today, Awang wrote that the Federal Constitution is clear in stating that guarding security even for states, is under the jurisdiction of the federal government, and not the state government.

“We cannot just allow any state government to set up a supposedly volunteer team that act like thugs.

“This is why Awang hopes that the police will not bow to any pressure regarding the PPS, go ahead and be stern with them because Awang has confidence in PDRM,” he said, referring to the Royal Malaysian Police’s Malay acronym.

The PPS entered the limelight recently after a 51-year-old man lodged a police report alleging that two of the group’s members had beaten him up.

The duo, however, countered back with police reports of their own, claiming that they were attacked first.

This issue led to an uproar with Barisan Nasional leaders urging for the unit to be disbanded with Malay rights group Perkasa lodging police reports urging the police to investigate the unit’s activities.

IGP Khalid has since declared the organisation illegal, claiming a check with the Registrar of Societies (RoS) showed that it is not a legally registered organisation.

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar has also asked for the group to be stopped.

The Penang state government, however, has remained steadfast in its insistence that the group is legal.

PPS was formed by the state government in May 2011 to assist the public in all situations including directing traffic, in times of disaster and to patrol the streets as a preventive measure against crime.

As of now, there are more than 9,000 PPS members in the state and the members have all undergone various courses that include first aid and disaster management.