As a member of the public who has pledged to support Citizens Against Rape, I simply cannot understand the harsh stand taken by the police against All Women''s Action Society's (Awam) efforts to organise a public launch.

Last Sunday's fiasco where a truckload of police personnel showed up with machine guns in Bangsar, was the height of ridiculousness. No one looking at them could have imagined that the police would consider an anti-rape rally a threat to national security.

And then again, it wasn't even an anti-rape rally... just a few Awam members who showed up to tell members of the public that the gathering had been called off.

So what is really going on here? Is there no sane intelligent person in the upper ranks of the police force who can see that it would benefit them to work and cooperate with groups like Awam?

Can the police not see that people have lost trust in the ability of the police to maintain law and order and solve cases? Are they not concerned that most Malaysians fear the police almost as much as they do criminals?

It sounds perverse, but I feel hopeful every time I read a report where some high-ranking government official or minister is a crime victim.

In this country, it seems that nothing really happens until it affects the rich and powerful. Obviously, no high-ranking government official or minister has been raped yet. Perhaps it might help the rest of us.