Malaysiakini Your Say | Jul 19, 11

‘How can the people trust the police with the video footage? They’ll probably use it as evidence to arrest more people.’

Police urge public to submit Bersih 2.0 rally videos

Joker: Deputy inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar, if you were sincere, just go to YouTube. You can find lots of videos there.

You can also call up some of the participants such as PAS’ Abdul Hadi Awang, Marina Mahathir, Anwar Ibrahim, Nurul Izzah, Khairy Jamaluddin, maybe even Information Minister Rais Yatim since he is investigating whether the people there were paid to rally.

You can also interview your own officers and take their statements first so you can later match it against other statements.

Lim Yeu Chuen: Khalid, after the way you have handled matters and your arrogance in dealing with Bersih, now you want people to trust you with their evidence? You must either be a dreamer or a person who does not know what trust is. Trust must be earned, and your have not earned it.

NuckinFuts: How can the people trust the police with their footage? They will probably use the footage as evidence to arrest more people, or use them to get some university students expelled.

Multi Racial: This is the same old trick. They asked for the public to provide them with video and photo evidence. It is likely nobody will surrender anything to them without knowing what they are going to do to you. Since nobody surrenders any evidence, they will conveniently close the case.

Moo: Investigations should be done by a third-party non-government-influenced body, with representatives from both NGOs and police. The Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) image had long been in tatters. You don’t need footage to convince the public anymore. The damage has been done.

Want to have trust restored? Stand up against the real crime. Be a real police for once, stop asking for duit kopi and bribes, protect the people instead of bullying them, catch the real criminals and uphold the law. Need us to teach you how to discharge your responsibilities?

DannyLoHH: If the deputy IGP still command some semblance of credibility, such calls would definitely be heeded by the public.

Alas, he has lost all credibility when he denied that the police had shot tear gas and water cannon into the compound of a hospital. He has no credibility whatsoever to ask the public to trust him, the IGP, and hence the police.
Based on what he could assure the public that video evidence would not be buried? His words?

One Brain Cell: Do not hand your videos over to him. Give Suaram copies to present to Suhakam. The cops said immediately after the rally that they had also been videoing the event and had proof the cops acted properly. You show us yours, we’ll show you ours.

I did not bring knife to demo, says protester

Rayfire: The mainstream media have long lost their credibility due to their insistence in painting the wrong picture of events whenever it reflects badly on the government.

If they can’t stick to professional journalistic practices, they might as well get out of the business. Don’t be a thorn in the people’s flesh just to be in the good books of the government. Report it as it is.

People who were there that day were unarmed, but were strong-willed enough to remain calm despite being bombarded by tear gas and water cannon – these were the real Malaysians whom you can’t just create out of thin air.

No weapons, and no bombs. It was more of a carnival. The only violence seen that day was by the police under orders of the Home Ministry.

Ong Guan Sin: Read this development together with the plastic-bottle molotov cocktails claims, and we all can tell that whoever is in power in this country is in absolute deficit of integrity.

Kelvin Tan: Anyone in Malaysia who has a keen eye can see very clearly for themselves that the guy in the picture is holding a small white flag pole with the small spherical knob and a small portion of the pole visible. Berita Minggu is sub-standard.

Kim: Isn’t it sad that the mainstream media, which is supposed to give factual reports, has become the authorities’ tools to deceive readers, willing to stoop so low as to turn what is right into wrong and white into black, and vice versa.

If this trend were to continue, this country will be hopeless as the younger generations will be lost, their minds confused as to the values promoted by those in power.

Yellow Boxer: Umno newspapers are capable of doing anything. Whatever you hold, they can make it out into a knife. Will they verify the claim? Not in a million years. They are out to get Pakatan Rakyat by hook or crook. They don’t care about truth and facts.

Quigonbond: We shouldn’t be surprised that the picture is doctored. After all, we already have certain porno video, and if you think back a bit longer, a distorted photograph is one of the reasons we lost our case in the International Court of Justice over Pulau Batu Puteh.

RR: As a senior citizen, I’ve always been concerned about riots and the resultant bloodshed that may affect the whole nation.

But after seeing the way the government has manipulated the Bersih 2.0 rally (which was to be a peaceful one) to give the impression it is a demon to destroy the nation, I think it is about time that PAS and PKR, in particular, go to the millions of Malays, particularly the young in the kampung and suburban areas, to tell the real truth and reality of the situation so that race or religion is not abused by the ruling Umno-BN.

Calling S Ambiga as anti-Islam, branding welfare-minded doctor-politician Dr Michael D Jeyakumar as a communist and to put him in jail with false allegations, are cruel and atrocious. So PAS, PKR and DAP, do your job discreetly for the next general election.

Tuah PJ: The mainstream newspapers should publish an apology to Abdul Razak Endut. This young man is a people’s hero.

I am sure he used his own money and time to come and protect the rally goers, unlike the Umno goons. He did not need to be paid with allowance. This is true patriotism. I wish there were many more Abdul Razak Enduts.

Ethnicmalaysian: It’s not a knife. It’s clearly a three-foot parang, the sort the police ‘found’ in Sogo and similar to the one they ‘found’ in Aminulrasyid Hamzah’s car. That’s clearly indisputable.