KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 29 — Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng today accused the police of applying double standards in their handling of Jalur Gemilang cases, contrasting the four-day remand of two people in Kulai with the questioning, without detention, of those involved in an incident at the Perak MCA headquarters.

The DAP lawmaker called on the Inspector-General of Police to explain the difference in treatment, saying the IGP should resign or be removed if he failed to provide what Lim considered a reasonable explanation.

“The mistakes were almost identical, yet the police response was vastly different. Does police action depend on who is involved?” Lim said in a statement today.

His remarks came a day after Perak MCA apologised over the upside-down display of the Jalur Gemilang and Perak flag at its state headquarters in Ipoh.

Perak MCA state liaison committee chairman Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon said the mistake was unintentional and was corrected immediately after it was noticed.

He also said police officers visited the headquarters to investigate and record statements from the staff member involved and an administrative officer. The staff member later resigned.

Lim contrasted that case with the police response in Kulai, where he said two members of the public were detained and remanded for four days and also subjected to urine tests.

“In the Perak MCA case, those involved merely had their statements recorded without being detained,” he said.

Lim also cited an incident involving the Kuala Terengganu City Council, which displayed a Jalur Gemilang without the crescent and star. He said the explanation that it was a “technical error” was accepted and no arrests were reported.

“The Inspector-General of Police must immediately explain this double standard. If he fails to provide a reasonable answer or continues to remain silent, as in the Kulai case, he must resign or be dismissed immediately,” Lim said.

He said he did not believe anyone should be arrested over an incorrect display of the national flag if the mistake was genuinely unintentional, immediately corrected and followed by an apology.

“My position is clear. If a mistake involving the display of the Jalur Gemilang was genuinely unintentional, immediately corrected and followed by an apology, no one should be arrested,” he said.

“The police cannot act harshly against ordinary people while going easy on ‘VIPs’ and government agencies. That is not justice. That is favouritism.”