KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 — Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today rejected allegations of bias in police enforcement, and labelled the law enforcement agency as “still the best” in the region.
Responding to Indera Mahkota MP Datuk Fauzi Abdul Rahman’s remarks in Parliament urging him to ensure the professionalism of the police force and return it to the days when it was the most esteemed in Asia, Zahid insisted this had never changed.
“But, the police force is still the best now,” he replied, saying that it was the perception of the public that needed to be altered.
Earlier, the minister also responded to several Pakatan Rakyat (PR) MPs who asked why Umno leaders Datuk Mashitah Ibrahim and Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob were not arrested as how police were detaining opposition members and activists under investigation.
“After 24 hours’ (detention), the police then have to refer the detainees to a magistrate, but in Datuk Mashitah and Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri’s case, there was no need for detention as the investigation had been done and recorded by summoning both parties and the police had wrapped up their investigation in under 24 hours,” he said.
Wanita Umno Baling chief Mashitah had falsely claimed that a Chinese individual had burned a copy of the Quran in Kedah, while Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister Ismail was investigated over a call for Malays to boycott Chinese traders.
Zahid also insisted that the police were fair and have detained “a lot” of government supporters.
“This is just perception, like the time when we carried our operations to weed out crime, while the crime rates dwindled; the perception did not, because their (public) mindset is not open.
“I feel we have to be open about the good job the police are doing.
“As long as I am the minister, I will try my best to determine what is done by police is the most professional,” Zahid added.
In a statement on March 17, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) vowed to table a parliamentary motion to censure Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar for arresting Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar as well as participants of the #Kitalawan rally earlier this month.
Nurul Izzah said that the motion to censure is also crucial to highlight that Khalid acted in contempt of Parliament by using the Sedition Act on a parliamentarian over a speech in the lower house.
Yesterday, DAP parliamentary leader and Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang confirmed that he had sent a notice to the Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia’s office requesting that Khalid be referred to Rights and Privileges Committee for arresting Nurul Izzah.
Nurul Izzah was detained overnight last week in the Jinjang lock-up after she was hauled in for a sedition probe on her speech to Parliament on March 10, which she had read out on behalf of her father, jailed Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
In the speech, Anwar had reportedly criticised his five-year imprisonment for sodomy and claimed that those in the judiciary had sold their souls to the devil.
In recent days, Khalid has been seen as training his sights on lawyers, politicians and social activist movements, hauling them up for being critical of Putrajaya.
An active user of Twitter himself, Khalid also regularly uses the social network to order the police to investigate individuals or groups.
An anti-Sedition Act group yesterday launched a Twitter campaign against Khalid, calling on users to report the national police chief for online abuse.
Gerakan Hapus Akta Hasutan (GHAH) uploaded a step-by-step guide on how to lodge reports of harassment against the IGP over his orders on the social networking site for police to investigate users over their tweets on current issues.
