Malaysia has plunged to a new low in law enforcement with the arrest of Anak Pdeneroka Felda Kebangsaan (Anak) chairman and AMANAH Supreme Council member, Mazlan Aliman.
Earlier today, Mazlan said in a brief posting on Facebook he was arrested by police this morning at his home in Kulaijaya around 1.35am this morning.
Was it necesssary to effect midnight arrest of Pakatan Harapan leaders as if they were potential fugitives from justice who would abscond from the law and country if arrest warrants are issued against them during normal hours.
Let me assure the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Fuzi Harun that Pakatan Harapan leaders are not like the 1MDB scandal mastermind, Jho Low, who had become an internatiional fugitive from justice and is even afraid to appear in Malaysia, which is supposed to be his homeland!
I believe I can speak on behalf of all Pakatan Harapan leaders that the police just have to contact and inform us that an arrest warrant had been issued for our arrest, and we would freely and peacefully surrender ourselves to the law, without any tantrum or obstruction.
There is no need for any midnight arrest, inconveniencing both the arrested and the arrestors – as the police will find that there is no problem even if arrests against Pakatan Harapan leaders and activists are done at noon time or in broad-light!
What is really worrisome about the rule of law and the future of Malaysis is the recent surfacing of a pattern of double-standards in law enforcement, where police reports against Umno/Barisan Nasional leaders or with regard to harassment of Pakatan Harapan leaders and their next of kin were just ignored while police reports by UMNO/Barisan Nasional personalities were treated as directives requiring instant and draconian police action.
Mazlan Aliman’s midnight arrest is a case in point.
It is understood that Mazlan is being investigated under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, which criminalises the use of the internet to transmit any communication that is deemed to be offensive and annoying, believed to be over a video that linked the prime minister’s wife to a failed sturgeon project.
On Monday a lawyer representing Rosmah Mansor, the wife of Prime Minsiter Datuk Seri Najib Razak, lodged a police report claiming defamation over a YouTube video of Mazlan allegedly linking the wife of the Prime Minister with a sturgeon project.
The proper redress for Mansor would be to institute defamation proceedings against Mazlan.
It is most shocking that the Malaysian enforcement agencies have stooped so low to such a level, 61 years after Merdeka in 1957 – a scenario the founders of the nation would never imagined as possible when Malaya was founded in 1957 and Malaysia established in 1963.
Is Malaysia reaching a stage where anyone who questions Najib about RM2.6 billion donation in his accounts or “wife of MO1” about the RM144 million pink diamond necklace gifted by Jho Low would be committed “crimes” liable to police arrest and lock-ups?
Is this the whole objective of the anti-fake news law now in the govenrment pipeline and is ready for first reading in Parliament next week?
(Media Statement in Parliament on Thursday, 22nd March 2018)