Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein should explain why he allowed police officers like the Selangor Police Chief Deputy Comm Khalid Abu Bakar to play politics with an eye to replace Tan Sri Musa Hassan as the next Inspector-General of Police instead of focusing on the core police function of conquering crime in Selangor.
The record and conduct of Khalid as a professional police officer suffered a grave dent when he was more interested in politicking, to the extent of publicly threatening to arrest Penang Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng on completely baseless grounds, instead of ensuring that the Selangor state is safe from criminals.
In Selangor, guarded and gated communities are mushrooming all over the state, the most potent indicator of the failure of the police to perform its core function to ensure that the people are safe and secure in the streets, public places and the privacy of their homes.
One important measure whether the police are making progress in turning the tide of endemic crime is whether the people are dismantling or erecting guarded/gated communities, where the people have to impose on themselves a new levy of “income tax” to protect themselves from crime which should have been the basic duty of the state through the police force.
Nobody will buy Khalid’s denial in today’s press that he had threatened to arrest Guan Eng for allegedly refusing to give his statement to the police over investigations that Guan Eng had made seditious remarks about the death of Teoh Beng Hock at the Pakatan Rakyat convention on Dec. 19.
Khalid cannot deny the undeniable as his threat was reported by the media.
This is the Star report “We’ll not hesitate to arrest you, cops warn Guan Eng” on Thursday, 14th January 2010:
PETALING JAYA: The Selangor police chief has warned Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng that police will not hesitate to arrest him if he fails to give his statement on alleged sedition. Deputy Comm Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar said a police team, including the investigating officer from Shah Alam, was sent to Penang on Saturday to record his statement but he had refused to co-operate. Lim is being investigated for allegedly uttering seditious remarks during a Pakatan Rakyat convention in Shah Alam on Dec 19 last year. He was alleged to have said that political aide Teoh Beng Hock’s death was murder. “He demanded for the police report to be given to him first and ultimately no statement was recorded. “Understanding his position and busy schedule as a chief minister, we made it more convenient for him to have his statement recorded in Penang but he continues to complicate the matter. “I, too, have to carry out my duty as there is a police report lodged against him, forcing me to issue a notice under Section 111 of the Criminal Procedure Code to compel him to issue a statement,” said DCP Khalid. The notice was issued yesterday. He did not specify the deadline for the notice.
That Khalid had issued such a threat is undeniable, which is most deplorable when it was completely baseless as Guan Eng had co-operated with the police team and even signed the statement concerned, although the police had failed to give a copy of the police report lodged against him.
What Khalid had done is most dishonest and dishonourable. The least he should do is to publicly apologise to Guan Eng for his unprofessional misconduct.
(Media Conference Statement at Wisma DAP Perak in Ipoh on Saturday, 16th January 2010 at 11.30 am)