The Penang state government will provide lawyers and legal funding to defend any PPS member who are wrongly arrested by police, not for any criminal wrongdoing, but merely for being a good Samaritan and helping the public. This follows the bullying threats by Inspector-General of Police(IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar who said that police will arrest members of the (PPS) if they continued their activities.
In a Bernama report yesterday, Khalid had given a new reason for wanting to stop PPS members from continuing with their activities of helping the public, by arresting them. Khalid claimed “PPS appeared to have strayed from its objective when it was established four years ago to serve the community but have now started hitting people, some journalists had been beaten, people who disagreed with them were also beaten… at least two police reports have been lodged by the public and the journalists concerned”.
Khalid is not only wrong but a liar for stating that PPS had strayed from its original objectives of helping the people and patrolling to protect public safety. One, PPS had never strayed from its orginal objectives of serving the public to start hitting people. If there are any criminal incidents involving PPS that are wrong, the Penang state government will co-operate fully with the police to take stern action. Penang State EXCO member Phee Boon Poh is personally in charge and has taken full responsibility to ensure that any wrongdoings by PPS members are punished.
Two, the Penang state government had said repeatedly that PPS was not registered as a society under Section 41 of the Societies Act but was established by the Penang state government. Why was no action taken against PPS when it was established four years ago and even co-operation given by the Penang police?
This is similar to Jawatan Kemajuan dan Keselamatan Kampung(JKKK) set up by the state government and the JKKK(Persekutuan) set up by the Federal government after the 2008 general elections through Kementerian Luar Bandar dan Wilayah. If JKKK and JKKK(P) is not wrong, why is there double-standard by the IGP to declare PPS set up by the Penang state government illegal?
Thirdly, the IGP admitted that when PPS had been established 4 years ago, PPS had done good in serving the public. In other words, PPS was legal 4 years ago but not now because PPS members were now hitting people. In that case, the IGP is saying that PPS is legitimate and legally established 4 years ago, but not so now because of a hitting incident between the public and PPS members.
Why should the nearly 10,000 members in PPS be punished for the wrongful acts of one PPS member? If that is the case, can the IGP answer whether the entire 120,000 police forced should be punished just because of the criminal acts of several policemen committing crime, beating up people, even causing death whether in lock-ups or during interrogations?
The Penang state government is willing to go to court to defend our rights and powers to form PPS just as we formed JKKK and also encourage our community to take responsibility towards community policing. Let the whole world see the Malaysian police arrest, not criminals, but PPS members for being a good Samaritan by helping people.Similarly the Penang state government guarantees that it will act sternly to punish any PPS member commiting criminal wrongdoings.