KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 — Noting Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar’s penchant for Twitter, Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan yesterday pressed the Inspector-General of Police there to explain the “appalling” midnight arrests and detention of opposition lawmakers and activists.
Following the lead of Selangor Speaker Hannah Yeoh in expressing disapproval of the way police were treating those detained for sedition and involvement in rallies to protest Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s jailing, the former Bersih 2.0 co-chair also asked the federal police chief to explain the contrasting handling of Umno leaders.
“@KBAB51 We object to citizens being treated like criminals for things they say. I am making this formal complaint to you by Twitter,” Ambiga, a former Malaysian Bar president, wrote.
“@KBAB51 Treatment of @rafiziramli and others is appalling! Why the handcuffs and ski masks? As our police force, please explain,” she directed at Khalid on his Twitter account.
In her series of tweets, Ambiga also demanded Khalid say why Umno leaders such as minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Wanita Umno Baling chief Mashitah Ibrahim had their statements recorded via telephone, rather than arrested and kept days for the same purpose.
Ismail had been investigated for telling Malays to boycott Chinese traders while Mashitah for falsely claiming that a Chinese person had burned a copy of the Quran in Kedah. Police investigated both, but the outcome of the investigations is not known.
In contrast to the treatment both Umno leaders received while under police investigation, opposition lawmakers and activists have endured midnights raids to their homes by officers looking to arrest them.
PAS’s Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad was arrested in a pre-dawn swoop at his home over involvement in the pro-Anwar #KitaLawan rallies, while police have also detained several others leading up and following the protest.
PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli was detained for sedition on Friday over circular about Saturday’s rally and was remanded three days, as had the party’s Youth chief Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad previously.
This prompted Yeoh to tweet pictures of Rafizi yesterday dressed in the bright purple attire that police detainees are made to wear.
“He’s elected by the people of Pandan to speak up on corruption, injustice, abuse of laws. Why such treatment?” the Selangor Speaker asked on Twitter.
Khalid and his police force have engaged in an apparent crackdown on dissent since Anwar’s sodomy conviction on February 10, arresting critics of the decision as well as supporters rallying to the PKR de facto leader’s support.
Over a dozen people have been arrested at various times over the #KitaLawan rallies while several others including lawmakers, lawyers, and activists are under investigations over tweets critical of Anwar’s jailing.
Sedition probes were initiated against political cartoonist Zunar, Penang state executive councillor Dr Afif Bahardin, Parti Sosialis Malaysia secretary-general S. Arutchelvan, civil liberties lawyers Eric Paulsen and Michelle Yesudas.
Khalid yesterday defended the arrests by saying that while the police “respected” the freedom of expression and speech, there will be no “compromise” against those who caused public unrest.
