Police have offered a financial reward to anyone who can provide information leading to the arrest of those who stepped on a picture of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, at the Bersih 4 rally recently.
Kuala Lumpur CID chief Datuk Zainuddin Ahmad said the police viewed the act seriously because it created a tense atmosphere which evoked public disorder.
The over-the-top action by the Police is completely ridiculous as there has been no signs of public disorder in the one week since the alleged incident. There is no question that stomping on a leader’s face is rude, uncalled for and unacceptable. Such actions should not be a part of our political or social culture.
However, the decision by the Police to offer a financial reward for information with regards to the incident is outrageous and smacks of double standards.
We have never previously seen the police take any action at all against parties who openly stomped or burnt posters of political leaders, particularly opposition leaders, much less offering a financial reward. So what makes this particular incident so special?
What’s more, how is it that such a trivial incident, even if it is an alleged crime, demands more urgency from the Police than the multi-billion ringgit scams committed in the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal?
I’ve filed in March a very detailed police report on the highly dubious transactions between 1MDB, Petrosaudi and Jho Low with billions of ringgit from 1MDB siphoned to Good Star Limited, a company controlled by Jho Low. However to date, none of the key protagonists in the scandal involving funds guaranteed by the Federal Government have been investigated.
There is no warrant of arrest for the missing Jho Low, nor any information offered for information leading to his capture.
Similarly, despite multiple police reports filed against the RM2.6 billion of alleged “donation” received by Dato Seri Najib Razak in his personal bank account, the Police have not even bothered to question the Prime Minister. Such absence of urgency has made Malaysia the laughing stock of the world as demonstrated in the recently concluded International Anti-Corruption Conference in Putrajaya.
We call upon the Royal Malaysian Police to uphold its professionalism and prioritise investigations against the real crimes against Malaysians. They should stop making a mockery of the police by pursuing ridiculously trivial incidents at the whims and fancies of the ruling government bent on suppressing any forms of dissent.