The Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein has made many outrageous statements and done many outrageous things in his political career, like
• his infamous keris-wielding as Youth Leader for three consecutive years since 2005 until he had to apologise for them when MCA, Gerakan and even UMNO leaders blamed him as one of the causes of “political tsunami” in the March 2008 general election;
• his defence and justification of the insensitive and sacrilegious cowhead demonstration in Shah Alam in September 2009;
• his xanthophobia (fear of the colour yellow) in the run-up to the Bersih 2.0 rally on July 9, 2011 when he declared the yellow Bersih T-shirt illegal and a police arrestable offence to wear them and his illogical, unreasonable and unlawful ban on Bersih 2.0.
• his wild, reckless and deplorable allegation that “some parties” wanted serious injuries and deaths at the Bersih 3.0 rally at Dataran Merdeka on April 28, 2012 in support of the Prime Minister’s equally wild, reckless and deplorable allegation that the Bersih 3.0 rally was an attempted coup d’etat to topple the government when the hundreds of thousands, regardless of race, religion, age and gender, who came out were peaceful, armed at most with salt and mineral water to protect themselves from police tear-gas and chemically-lacked water cannons, wanted only to send the message of clean, free and fair elections to the government.
However, Hishammuddin has put all his previous outrageous statements and acts in the shade with the “mother of all outrages” when he made it clear yesterday that there will be no guarantee of security for PKR’s nationwide Merdeka Rakyat tour.
If Hishammuddin has his fingers on the pulse of the people, he should have sensed the instant sense of outrage nation-wide at his abdication of responsibility as Home Minister among all right-thinking Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or political beliefs.
I stand by four tweets which I posted last night:
1. Most shameful statement for any responsible Home Minister http://goo.gl/2IrTU Hishammuddin: No safety guarantee for PKR – by Koh Jun Lin (Mkini)
2. No surprise if “No safety guarantee” come from keris-wielding UMNO leader but totally unbecoming and abdication of duty from a Home Minister
3. Hishammuddin’s “No safety guarantee” outrageous and deserve condemnation from all right-thinking Malaysians. Anyone in Umno/BN who dare 2speak up?
4. Hishammuddin proven to be utterly unprofessional Home Minister. Q is whether Police will also betray public trust and be equally unprofessional?
Hishammuddin’s appointment as Home Minister is proving to be one of the greatest disappointments and disasters of the Najib premiership.
Although “Reducing Crime” is one of the NKRAs of Najib’s Government Transformation Programme, there is a great sense of national unease about the state of crime and the political will of the Najib administration to ensure public safety and security three years after the Najib premiership because of a set of triple problems – rampant crime (total lack of credibility and confidence in official statistics of falling crime index), unprecedented fear of crime among the public and the rise in political hooliganism, violence and crime!
Hishammuddin has made a half-hearted but totally unconvincing attempt at damage control when he twittered before noon today alleging that Malaysiakini had spun his comments on the security of PKR’s nationwide Jelajah Merdeka tour in Johore.
I have heard the audio clip of the interview with Hishammuddin which Malaysiakini had put up on its site, and it is clearly more supportive of the Malaysiakini report than Hishammuddin’s denial. What came clearly across is his refusal to give any guarantee for the safety of the PKR Merdeka Rakyat tour.
Hishammuddin cannot be oblivious of the fact that the current issue at stake is the increasing trend of political hooliganism, violence and crime which Hishammuddin showed no interest or concern, whether in the interview yesterday or in his twitter clarification today.
When Hishammuddin refused, yesterday and today, to condemn or even take notice of the increasing incidents of political hooliganism and violence, whether the splashing of red paint on the PKR campaign bus or the systematic attacks on the DAP Penang headquarters and three service centres of Penang DAP State Assemblymen including the Penang Chief Minister, coupled with his refusal to ensure the safety of the PKR Merderka Rakyat campaign tour, his complaint that Malaysiakini had spun his words wears thin.
Hishammuddin should apologise for his unbecoming and deplorable “No safety guarantee” stance, or is he going to apologise only after the next general election as he did with regard to his keris-wielding as UMNO Youth Leader?
If Hishammuddin refuses to apologise for his “No safety guarantee” stance or announce satisfactory measures to end the increasing spate of incidents of political hooliganism, violence and crime, Cabinet Ministers must ensure this subject is on the top of the agenda of the next Cabinet meeting.
The Cabinet should censure Hishammuddin if the Home Minister refuses to apologise for his “No safety guarantee” stance and failure to come out with a satisfactory and effective plan to end the recent spate of political hooliganism, violence and crime in the country.
Otherwise, Hishammuddin’s “No safety guarantee” stance will be the biggest slap in Najib’s face as it will be the ultimate and definitive debunking of the “Janji Ditepati” slogan, which has been on Najib’s lips for the past few months.
But the question is whether there is a single Minister in the Cabinet who dare to bell the cat in the next Cabinet meeting!