The excessive use of police force with the firing of tear gas and water cannons against the Hindraf gathering in Kuala Lumpur this morning to present a memorandum to the British High Commission is most high-handed, ham-fisted, undemocratic and a grave disservice not ony to the Malaysian Indian community but to Malaysia’s international reputation in wanting to be a first-world developed nation.

If the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had “walked the talk” of creating a Malaysia with “First World Infrastructure, First World Mentality”, today’s disgraceful display of excessive police force would not have happened.

Peaceful demonstrations and marches are common and accepted occurrences in First World developed nations which Malaysia aspires to become. As has been rightly pointed out recently, in Britain, Australia and other modern countries, when people wish to demonstrate, the police typically clear the way and make sure no one gets hurt. The streets belong to the people. And the police, like the politicians, are their servants. It is not the other way around as in Malaysia where the first reflex of the police and the government to any peaceful demonstration is to impose a ban and to fire tear gas and water cannons to deny Malaysians the fundamental right to a voice in national affairs.

During the world-wide anti-Iraq war demonstrations in late 2002, the Malaysian government had applauded mammoth peaceful demonstrations in the Western capitals, whether in London, Paris, Rome or Washington where crowds ranging from hundreds of thousands and even millions came out to peacefully voice their anti-war aspirations.

If the Police had issued a permit to Hindraf for their gathering to submit a memorandum to the British High Commission this morning, the whole incident would have ended in a peaceful, orderly and swift manner, which will not only be a credit to the police but to the nation’s international reputation as well.

This is a case where the Police has failed to make the important distinction between their role from that of their political masters in the Barisan Nasional.

The Barisan Nasional parties and leaders feel threatened by the Hindraf initiative, for it is a reflection of their failures in the past 50 years to accord justice, fair play and equality to the Malaysian Indians who have become the new underclass in the country as a result of relentless marginalization of their citizenship rights.

The Barisan Nasional parties and leaders have reason to feel threatened, but not the police, for the Hindraf peaceful gathering to the British High Commission was not a challenge to the Police and never posed a threat to peace and security.

The Police must demonstrate a “First World Mentality” of respecting peaceful marches and demonstrations as a norm for citizens of a would-be first-world nation to exercise their fundamental democratic rights.

They should be mindful of the Rukunegara objective to maintain a democratic way of life in Malaysia and abandon the “Third-World Mentality” of suppressing peaceful expression of legitimate opinion by the citizenry with tear gas, water cannons and excessive police force and instead transform themselves into allies for democracy by respecting the fundamental rights of Malaysians to peaceful marches and demonstrations while safeguarding law, order and security.