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Sunday, March 29, 2015

Police sink to new low with scare tactic of arrests, say analysts

Police presence at the #KitaLawan rally in Kuala Lumpur yesterday was heavy despite an estimated 1,000 protesters turning up. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Seth Akmal, March 29, 2015. Police presence at the #KitaLawan rally in Kuala Lumpur yesterday was heavy despite an estimated 1,000 protesters turning up. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Seth Akmal, March 29, 2015.
Resorting to scare tactics when detaining opposition leaders will only backfire on the ruling Barisan Nasional  government, analysts have warned, saying that this only showed that the police have sunk to a new low despite severe criticism from the public.
They were referring to the "dramatic" arrests of several opposition leaders and activists in the hours before and after yesterday’s #KitaLawan rally in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur.
Early today, Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad was arrested in what has become a familiar pattern of detaining opposition leaders and activists after the #KitaLawan political rallies.
Hours after the rally ended yesterday, #KitaLawan secretariat member Fariz Musa was arrested under the Sedition Act.
He was taken to the Kuala Lumpur police contingent headquarters.
On Friday night, activist Hishamuddin Rais was allegedly abducted by men in plainclothes in a silver Honda Accord as he was making his way on foot to Dataran Merdeka for an anti-goods and services tax (GST) rally that was also part of the #KitaLawan agenda.
At 12.20am yesterday, PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu was detained by about 10 "armed and masked" policemen as the popular politician arrived at the Seven Star restaurant in Sungai Dua, Penang.
Later in the day, PKR vice-president Tian Chua tweeted that 20 police officers had come to arrest him at the Kampung Batu Muda community hall, where he had just finished a public dialogue.
"I'm not sure why the police put on such costumes when they are arresting figures, such as Mat Sabu or Hishammudin Rais," said independent pollster Merdeka Center director Ibrahim Suffian.
"Perhaps it is to display the seriousness of fulfilling their duties to their superiors or perhaps to intimidate those arrested or others around them."
Dr Wong Chin Huat, who is with think-tank Penang Institute, was more hard-hitting, saying that the failure of the cops to behave in a civil manner showed that they have sunk to a new low.
"Malaysia, PDRM and the IGP have all sunk to a new low. Why do police need to abduct citizens or arrest people in masks? Why can't they do it in a civil manner like police in normal countries?
"What will happen next? Will we see people disappearing like what happened to an activist in Laos in 2012 and once commonly happened in Latin America?"
He said the police were not above the law themselves and urged the people to reject such behaviour from the authorities.
"Malaysians must say no to the uncivil, unprofessional and possibly unlawful arrest made by the police. They are not above the law no matter how well they can be Twitter bullies," the political scientist said, referring to the "Twitter trigger-happy" habits of the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar.
Khalid has earned a reputation for constantly using the social media site to announce arrests and ask his men to launch investigations into individuals, who were more often than not PR politicians and critics of the federal government, over what they had said on social media sites or in public.
He has come under severe criticism over this but his superiors in Putrajaya have come to his defence, with Deputy Home Minister D‎atuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar saying the IGP was merely doing his job.
Wan Junaidi said Khalid would instead be criticised for being "lazy" if he did not go after those who were causing disharmony.‎
"It is not the IGP who is too much, everybody else is too much. They come out in social media with stinging words and harsh comments that are beyond belief," he had said earlier this week.
So far, a total of 14 people have been arrested since Thursday night while police declared yesterday's rally illegal and warned that they would arrest protesters.
Political Studies for Change (KPRU) said 152 people, including opposition politicians, academics, lawyers, activists, journalists and others, have been investigated, arrested or charged with various offences.
Police were relying on laws such as the Sedition Act, the Peaceful Assembly Act and the Penal Code to act against these individuals.
Wong said the spate of arrests that seem unjustified would only fuel the public’s anger and remind them of one fact: "No matter how messy Pakatan has become, Barisan Nasional seems committed to creating bigger messes.
"When the full impact of GST is felt, what can they do to stop protests?”
Ibrahim agreed, but said that the detention of the host of opposition leaders and activists did not seem to have had a chilling effect.
"This is partly because it is taking place at a time when the regime is unpopular due to taxes and internal bickering," he said.
"But the fact that they are targeting well- known politicians and activists seems to have the opposite desired effect. They seem to be scoring own goals on a daily basis."
He said the popularity of these politicians seemed to grow following their detention as was the public sympathy towards them, but observed that despite this, Pakatan's image remained in tatters because of the internal bickering over hudud.
"Pakatan's image hasn't improved, however. The dissension over hudud and the possibility of a break-up still creates a poor impression on audiences," he added.
- TMI

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