Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
Dec 2, 2013

I am on the waiting-list for membership of the exclusive ‘Sedition Club Uniting Malaysians’, (SCUM) which has several distinguished members like Adam Adli, Haris Ibrahim, Tian Chua, Tamrin Ghafar, Safwan Anang and Zunar. I don’t think many people know the criteria which makes one eligible for membership.

Who would have realised that a well-meaning article ‘One Idealogy, Two Reactions’ about the need to be compassionate to Malaysians, regardless of their political leanings or social background, would have upset the inspector-general of police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar?

Does Khalid suffer from an inferiority complex or was he under extreme pressure to explain his involvement in the Lahad Datu debacle?

More importantly, he wanted to divert attention from the terrible handling of the Siti Aishah Abdul Wahab story, by the Malaysian government and himself. They probably thought they would capitalise on the story of Aishah’s enslavement.

Initially, the Metropolitan police in England refused to divulge the identity of the Malaysian woman who had been “freed”, but Khalid jumped the gun and blurted out her name before the English police were ready to make this public.

Even before Kamar Mahtum and Hishamuddin Rais arrived in London, the IGP was already boasting about the welcome they would give Aishah on her return, home. Khalid said she would not be arrested as her “crime” was in the past. Meanwhile, the women’s minister talked about providing counselling.

It was like a couple expecting their first child, preparing the nursery to receive the baby, except the ‘baby’ – Aishah – refused to come home.

As information trickled back to KL, the IGP was probably told that Aishah had not deviated from her ideology. She had not been enslaved, as was previously reported. She had no intention of returning to Malaysia. She was not remorseful, nor did she want to resume ties with the land of her birth. Sources also allege that the reunion between Kamar and Aishah was far from cordial.

If Aishah really wanted to flee from her captors, she would have.

Khalid and the government realised, too late, that Aishah had outsmarted them. Aishah did not follow the Umno Baru script.

The IGP and Najib Abdul Razak probably wanted to give Aishah a heroine’s welcome at KLIA. Then, after a six month religious rehabilitation at one of the indoctrination centres, arrange a photo-shoot of Aishah kissing Najib’s hand, renouncing her previous ideology, giving up her Marxist beliefs, and praising Najib’s government as the saviour of her body and soul.

The penny must have dropped as Kamar and Hisham passed through passport control at Heathrow, on Saturday morning to return home. So, Khalid had to divert attention from the government’s terrible handling of the Aishah story. A distraction had to be found. Me! The rest is history.

A means to intimidate the public?

Did Khalid, in a moment of madness, lose his judgment and decide to abuse his position and utilise the publicity machinery of the state, and use me as a means to intimidate the public?

He was foolish to think I would be intimidated. Perhaps, he wanted me to be cowed and cower under the bed, as a certain politician, who was caught in flagrante delicto in Port Dickson, was alleged to have done.

Khalid believes that writers for the alternative media write, merely to get hits. They don’t! One would like to ask the IGP if his men have been given orders to use their weapons, just to score hits, on their victims?

Will Khalid understand that one of the reasons the mainstream media is failing the public is because they are economical with the truth. They manipulate facts and tell lies to incite hatred.

If Khalid were to talk to former Utusan journalists, he would learn many painful truths. Those who joined the exodus, in 2007, have alleged that their wages have not been paid. Another journalist alleges that the paper is losing money, because Umno Baru takes out full page advertisements in Utusan, and then fails to pay the paper.

Utusan loses revenue, and Najib, the president of Umno Baru knows that the party is bankrupt. So, he urges the government-linked companies (GLCs) to place advertisements in Utusan Malaysia.

My calling is to continue informing the public and stimulate them to ask questions of their parliamentarians and people in positions of responsibility, like the IGP. What are Khalid’s good points? People have lost faith in the police because of leaders like Khalid.

One would have thought that Khalid would have understood the nuances of my article. Surely, someone could have explained them to him, before he was allowed to shoot his mouth off.

It was Khalid who incorrectly mentioned race as the reason for the different treatments meted out to Chin Peng and Aishah. Perhaps, he would like to tell us why the dead Malaysian terrorists like Dr Azahari Hussein and Noordin Mat Top, the masterminds of the Jakarta and Bali bombings, were allegedly given the VIP treatment? Not many dead Malaysians would be returned to Malaysia at the taxpayer’s expense, in an RMAF transport.

Khalid warned me via a Bernama report that, “She (Mariam Mokhtar) had better watch out…”

Despite his failings, we should praise Khalid for his ‘1Malaysia’ spirit. During his visit to multicultural and predominantly Christian Sabah, he has kicked off the Christmas season with the classic song ‘You’d better watch out’. Most readers may know it by its original title, ‘Santa Claus is coming to town’.

A Malaysian makeover

With apologies to the original songwriters, J Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie, whose song made its debut in 1934, I have given the song a Malaysian makeover, and substituted the words ‘Santa Claus’ with ‘The IGP’.

The older generation may recall Fred Astaire, Dean Martin or Frank Sinatra singing this song. Khalid and younger Malaysians may prefer Miley Cyrus’ catchy rendition on YouTube.

Oh! You better watch out,
You better not cry,
You better not pout,
I’m telling you why:
The IGP is coming to town!

So…You better watch out, You better not cry
You better not pout, I’m telling you why.
The IGP is coming to town.

Who knows? The Khalid inspired song, ‘You Better Watch Out’, may prove to be this year’s Christmas hit.

Khalid was wrong to attack and intimidate members of the rakyat. This harassment should be our catalyst for real, meaningful change. It is Khalid and Umno Baru who had better watch out!

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army and president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO).