KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 4 — DAP’s Lim Kit Siang today questioned why the country’s top cop has not taken action against Datuk Jamal Md Yunos and his Red Shirt movement for provoking a peaceful Bersih 5 gathering in Teluk Intan, Perak, over the weekend.
Noting that Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar has been silent about the matter, the Gelang Patah MP claimed the Inspector-General of Police would have likely reacted differently if the provocation came from members of the electoral watchdog instead.
“What would have happened if the Bersih 5 supporters had been as unruly, provocative and violent as the Red Shirts in Teluk Intan on Saturday?
“Undoubtedly, the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar would have tweeted for the whole world to know about the Bersih 5 supporters’ provocative and violent conduct,” Lim said in a statement.
Lim also highlighted and questioned the glaring difference in how Perak and Johor cops dealt with the altercation, noting that officers from the latter state took strong action to prevent Red Shirt members from nearing a group of Bersih 5 supporters there.
Bersih 5 members claimed police failed to act accordingly in Perak.
“Can the IGP explain why the Johor Baru Police could act in full regard of their law and order responsibilities… while the Police in Teluk Intan had failed dismally in the discharge of their basic police duties?
“Would the IGP commend the police in Johor Baru for their exemplary conduct while deploring the failure and dereliction of duties of the police in Teluk Intan?” He said.
Lim also criticised Umno secretary-general and Federal Territories Minister, Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor for his failure to censure Jamal and his supporters while appearing to blame Bersih 5 for the fracas.
The polls reform group is currently on a nationwide convoy ahead of its Bersih 5 rally in Kuala Lumpur on November 19.
Members of Jamal’s group clashed with those from Bersih 2.0 during the latter’s Perak stop of its nationwide convoy on Saturday.
Ten civil society organisations, through their spokesman Nobel Laureate A. Samad Said, had condemned the Red Shirts’ violent attacks on the Bersih 5 convoy team in Teluk Intan, urging IGP Khalid to investigate immediately the incident and to arrest the perpetrators.
