Facing a series of allegations from former inspector-general of police (IGP) Musa Hassan, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein today hit back at the former for raising the issues ahead of the general election.

Taking an indirect swipe at Musa, Hishammuddin likened the former IGP's accusations to PKR's claim on the citizenship issue, which he said “is a big lie”.

NONE PKR has claimed the number of stateless people in the nation has hit 300,000 , a figure rebutted by Hishammuddin ( left in picture ).

“These are the same things in today's political landscape, (they just) want to get something that can cause restlessness,” he said, without naming Musa.

However, he stressed that he has had no problems with the police force, even during Musa's time.

Questioning the timing of the allegations, he repeatedly asked, “why now?”

At a press conference in Petaling Jaya on Nov 28, Musa said Hishammuddin had once given instructions directly to junior police officers and a district police chief without his knowledge.

“So, I highlighted to him (Hishammuddin) Section 4 (1) of the Police Act (1967, which says) that the command and control of the police is by the IGP and not the minister.

NONE “Of course, I cannot be rude to him as (he is) a minister. I talked to him nicely. He didn’t like it,” Musa ( right ) had said.

However, Hishammuddin said: "The most important thing is that we need to look forward in a constructive way. What was said about the interference happened during the former IGP's time and I was also the minister then. So, why raise the issue only now?"

"As for the citizenship matter, if it is true that 300,000 people (are stateless), why raise the issue only now? If that is an old issue, why hold demonstration only today?"

Refuting the PKR claim, the home minister said the NRD only received 308 MyKad applications from the protesters today.

'The people must determine the truth'

"And none of the applications are about the citizenship problem," he said, adding that most of them applied to change their red MyKad to blue MyKad.

This, Hishammuddin said, has proven that the PKR's claim was a "big lie", without any basis.

With the general election just around the corner, he added, he believes more similar allegations would surface.

However, it was up to the people to determine the truth. If the citizens could not verify the validity of the allegations, it would be irresponsible of the parties that were throwing up such claims.

Asked to comment on the allegation by former Commercial Crime Investigations Department (CCID) chief Ramli Yusuff that Musa and Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail abused their powers, Hishammuddin said:

"That is their allegation. The important thing for me, as a minister, is that I don't have any problem with the police force."