By Gomen Man | 25 Nov 2011
The Malaysian Insider

NOV 25 — Stop blaming Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein for the proposed Peaceful Assembly Act. He may be the minister in charge of the police but there is a reason why Nazri Aziz and not him proposed the Bill in Parliament: his boss, the Prime Minister does not trust him.

So we can blame him for tolerating the cow head protest, for his childish opposition to Bersih 2.0, for his right wing tendencies and not being the intellectual league of his father or grandfather.

But he cannot be blamed for the new assembly act, which makes Malaysia look decidedly second best to Myanmar. In Umno circles, people are afraid of shadows and enough of Najib’s boys have been talking about the political ambitions of his cousin.

The talk has had effect and Hishammuddin does not enjoy the complete confidence of the PM. Especially after the Bersih debacle where some 50,000 people turned up despite the police advising the capital city to be shut down.

This proposed law was the handiwork of Najib Razak, part of his plan of creating the belief that he is a reformer but instead putting up enough obstacles that it will be impossible for spontaneous street protests to happen.

It is part of the PM’s advisors strategy to blame others when things go wrong, as such it was Hishammuddin’s fault that the stadium offer for Bersih was rescinded on the advice of the police and intelligence circles who put up the spectre of a Thahrir Square sit-in.

Instead, the Bersih protesters ended their demonstration at 4.30pm with the city the way it was and nearly 1,700 enjoying biryani at the expense of the police, most of whom did not have even a nasi bungkus.

All said and done, Najib But signed off on the police crackdown just like he signed off on his “revolutionary” Peaceful Assembly Act. Not Hishamuddin.

So give Hishammuddin a break. He needs all the leeway now to find a safe seat in Johor for the next general election.