What would have happened if the Bersih 5 supporters had been as unruly, provocative and violentn as the Red Shirts in Teluk Intan on Saturday?

Undoubtedly, the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar would have tweeted for the whole world to know about the Bersih 5 supporters’ provocative and violent conduct, how they had deliberately defied the law and order in the country as well as tweeted his “instant” directive to the relevant police officers to bring the offending persons to book or to hunt them down if they do not surrender themselves to the authorities within 24 hours!

More than 72 hours have passed since the hooliganism and thuggery exhibited by the Red Shirts in Teluk Intan, but there is not a squeak either from the Inspector-General of Police or the top police authorities!

What is even more ignominious and infamous is that the Barisan Nasional political leaders are using the Red Shirts hooliganism and thuggery in Teluk Intan as an excuse to issue seemingly even-handed calls to organisers of the Berish 5 and Red Shirt rallies to call off their demonstrations, publicly exhibiting the continuing loss of the UMNO/BN leaders of their moral compass to be unable to distinguish right from wrong.

As human rights lawyer Eric Paulsen has aptly said, it is absurd to compare the peaceful Bersih 5 convoy and gathering with the hooliganism and thuggery of the Red Shirts in Teluk Intan.

How can the UMNO/BN Secretary-General and Federal Territories Minister, Tengku Adnan, give respectability to the Red Shirts hooliganism and thuggery by urging Bersih 5 and Red Shirts to be “sensible and work things out as Malaysians to preserve the harmony and unity within the country” when the Red Shirts had crossed the bounds of decency, propriety and even legality by trying to harass and intimidate the Bersih 5 supporters?

Ten civil society organisations, through their spokesman Nobel Laureate Samad Said, had condemned the Red Shirts’ violent attacks on the Bersih 5 convoy team in Teluk Intan, urging the inspector-general of police (IGP) to investigate immediately the incident and to arrest the perpetrators.

What had the IGP done in the past three days to protect the rights of civil society organisations to assemble peacefully?

Can the IGP explain why the Johor Baru Police could act in full regard of their law and order responsibilities by providing the necessary security and protection to the Bersih 5 convoy and participants in the face of provocations and intimidations by Red Shirts hooligans and thugs while the Police in Teluk Intan had failed dismally in the discharge of their basic police duties?

Would the IGP commend the police in Johor Baru for their exemplary conduct while deploring the failure and dereliction of duties of the police in Teluk Intan?