KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 24 — The police’s Special Branch unit is being misused to prepare popularity reports on elected representatives unrelated to its task of maintaining peace and security, a DAP lawmaker said today.
Seputeh MP Teresa Kok added that while it was also pertinent to demand that the police and Special Branch be politically neutral in the execution of its duties, the bigger question was why the intelligence unit was even collating such reports.
“Certainly the performance and popularity of elected representatives cannot be the duty of the Special Branch,” Kok said in a statement today.
“The practice of collecting such reports is an abuse of the role of Special Branch and a misuse of precious Police resources.”
The apparent role of the unit in preparing such reports came to light when former Penang state executive councillor (exco) Datuk Toh Kin Woon asserted that the state’s chief minister was regularly provided with reports on the performance and popularity of government representatives.
But Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng yesterday came out to say that the Pakatan Rakyat administration has never received such reports since taking over the state from Barisan Nasional (BN) in 2008.
“There have (sic) been no feedback from the Special Branch and the state has no access to information about the performance of any elected representatives nor of any weak areas that need attention,” he said in a statement yesterday, and suggested if the information was only extended to BN.
Today, Kok said Special Branch or any police resources should not be diverted to non-essential use during a time when Malaysia was grappling with an apparent crime wave and heightened fear of crime.
“Hence, I call on the Home Minister Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to stop BN government’s abuse of the role of the Special Branch and to direct that the excess Special Branch personnel be deployed to help combat crime to bring back public peace and confidence.”
