The strongest “intelligence” to justify the three-day police lockdown of Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley has proved to be nothing but a lie.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar alleged that Pakatan Rakyat leadership had met last Wednesday to plot a demonstration in Parliament yesterday to coincide with a no-confidence motion on the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
This is what Hamid said, as reported by the Star:
Syed Hamid said intelligence was also gathered from a July 9 meeting chaired by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. at the PKR headquarters. “Anwar said at the meeting that some BN MPs would give support to PKR (on the no-confidence motion against the Prime Minister) and he would then lead the demonstration at Parliament,” he added. Syed Hamid said the meeting was attended by various leaders, including DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, DAP vice-chairman Dr Tan Seng Giaw and PAS treasurer Dr Mohd Hatta Ramli. “This proves that the threat was very real. The intention was clear, we had to take some action to prevent bigger things from happening.”
There was no such Pakatan Rakyat leadership meeting at the venue, date, time and for the purpose alleged.
Hamid had accused Anwar Ibrahim for being a “snitch” of the United States, for which Anwar is suing Hamid for RM100 million for defamation. But he is a Minister for “snitches” and not honest snitches at that, who could concoct lies like the non-existent high-level Pakatan Rakayt leadership meeting last Wednesday.
May be, Hamid should disclose how much of taxpayers’ funds are being spent to pay for these liars of “snitches”.
Guan Eng, Seng Giaw and I never attended any such Pakatan Rakyat meeting. In fact, none of us had visited the new PKR headquarters in Petaling Jaya.
The so-called high-level Pakatan Rakyat leadership meeting last Wednesday appears to be the most “solid” and important “intelligence” for the police mobilisation of 1,600 personnel to immobilise Kuala Lumpur and the Klang Valley in a three-day gridlock, causing massive traffic jams where tens of thousands of people were inconvenienced for three days – the worst was yesterday, which trapped people in traffic jams for hours on end, where a journey which would normally take a 20-minute ride took two and a half hours or more.
Now that it has been debunked with the denial by Guan Eng, Seng Giaw and I, both the Home Minister and the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Musa Hassan must accept full responsibility for the ridiculous, outrageous and baseless massive deployment of police personnel for three days to forestall a non-existent Pakatan Rakyat demonstration in Parliament.
If there was a demonstration yesterday, it was not by Pakatan Rakyat but by Hamid and 1,600 police personnel in an outrageous “show of force” locking down Kuala Lumpur and the Klang Valley – a clear abuse of police powers.
It is regrettable that the Prime Minister has been misled into defending and justifying the completely unnecessary police roadblocks, when he should have called up Hamid to present a case to warrant such massive police operation.
The apology by Hamid for the three-day traffic jams brought about by “heightened security arrangements in the city” is hollow, empty and utterly meaningless when the strongest intelligence that he has relied upon has proven to be completely baseless.
What other intelligence has Hamid got? Hamid has said that such intelligence constituted “two political speeches, two blogs and two SMS”.
If “two political speeches, two blogs and two SMS” of dubious veracity and credibility can justify the deployment of 1,600 police personnel in a three-day gridlock of the Klang Valley, Malaysians cannot have confidence in the efficiency, competence and professionalism of the Malaysian police or that the country will be having a world-class police service soon.
If “two political speeches, two blogs and two SMS” are sufficient a launch a massive operation involving 1,600 police involving tens of thousands of police man-hours, which could be better deployed in fighting crime and make Malaysians safe in their homes, work sites and public places, why then hadn’t the very many more speeches, blogs and SMS launched police operations against Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Datuk Seri Rosmah over the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu?
Hamid should not only apologise for telling a lie that Guan Eng, Seng Giaw and I had attended a high-level Pakatan Rakyat leadership meeting last Wednesday to plot a demonstration in Parliament yesterday, he should even resign as Home Minister if he could not convince Malaysians that the Police and Home Ministry have credible and solid reason for the three-day gridlock of the Klang Valley.
Hamid should support a public inquiry into how and why the police, the Home Minister and the Prime Minister could be so easily misled by “snitches” as to deploy 1,600 police personnel in a three-day gridlock of Klang Valley on the fiction of a massive Pakatan Rakyat demonstration around Parliament yesterday – when Pakatan Rakyat leaders had repeatedly denied any such demonstration and not a soul had turned up for such a demonstration yesterday.