Clearly the top cop, Khalid Abu Bakar, is exasperated and embarrassed because he is caught red-handed, flip flopping on his own statements.
Khalid initially said everyone knew of trafficking activities at Wang Kelian and Padang Besar. Then he sang a different tune.
And if this is not enough, the police now claims only two Malaysian police were involved in the trafficking network.
This is preposterous.
Thousands have been held captive in sub human conditions, tortured and raped. Many have been killed.
Local people have reported and handed over impoverished and hungry looking people to the police.
Tenaganita, a NGO that works on refugee and migrant issues, told the police in 2008 about the trafficking trade that has robbed hundreds of thousands off their dignity and lives.
One would think that the police would have followed up with investigations but there are no reports on this.
But Khalid has been quick to gloss over these facts.
Local media reports that 35 bodies have been exhumed from the ‘slave holding camps’. They are indeed death camps.
The police are caught with their pants down. They gave access to reporters to the camp sites but when the tough questions came they went cold.
This is because there is evidence of failed intelligence gathering by the police.
Deputy home minister, Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, in addressing questions from lawmakers said it was beyond the comprehension of the police that the forests were used as base camps by the traffickers because of the difficult terrain.
This is absolute nonsense. And it’s statements like this that clearly point to the fact that the police and government are hiding information to safe face.
Jumping on the bandwagon to downplay the involvement of Malaysian police and other authorities, minister in the prime minister’s department said they only played minor roles.
Shahidan Kassim embarrassed himself further by asserting that the policemen who have been arrested would have been motivated by money and would not have been aware of the killings and torture.
“Now they must be having nightmares”, he said.
We are not told as to how Shahidan is privy to the psyche and thought pattern of the policemen.
Malaysians are not ignorant. And therefore the police must cough out the truth. We deserve the right to know what happened in our backyard because of vulgar greed for money.
And until investigations are complete, the entire police force in Perlis should be suspended without further delay.