'Khalid Abu Bakar is the most political IGP'

The country's new federal police chief, Khalid Abu Bakar, has been labelled by DAP national adviser Lim Kit Siang as the most political inspector-general of police (IGP) ever.

Despite disclaiming political motives, opposition leaders and social activists have become the subject of persecution following Khalid's rise to the top job, Lim said.

"Khalid protests too much by claiming that the arrests of opposition figures and activists are not politically motivated, that nobody is above the law and that offenders should stop using politics as a shield to avoid prosecution.

"Khalid is quite a 'catch' for Umno and BN as he is proving to be the most 'political' IGP in his first week as the country's top police officer," he said in a statement today.

Instead of taking on the safety and security of the people and tackling crime, Lim said, Khalid was coming down hard on Pakatan Rakyat leaders and social activists, just as Umno vice-president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi took on as home minister.

"The IGP should pause and review his priorities. The police should not veer from their primary responsibility of ensuring that Malaysians are safe from crime, whether in the streets and public places or even in the privacy of their homes," he said.

'Nobody believes Khalid, Zahid'

Similarly, Lim likened Zahid's disclaiming of responsibility for the recent string of arrests as taking a page out of former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's book.

"When Zahid claims that he had no hand in the police arrests or harassment, the new home minister was taking a leaf out of Mahathir's draconian rule book from his 22 years as prime minister.

"It's just like Mahathir's 'zero credulity' claim that he was completely in the dark about the infamous and nefarious 'Operasi Lalang' mass arrests when it was launched 26 years ago," Lim said.

Operasi Lalang in 1987, carried out under the now-repealed Internal Security Act, was one of the largest crackdowns on dissent in Malaysia's post-independence history.

In all, 106 people were arrested, with most of them held at the Kamunting detention centre in Perak for up to two years, and the publishing licences of two daily newspapers were revoked.

Lim also asked: "Are (Prime Minister) Najib Abdul Razak and Zahid both going to claim ignorance as well when the police launch a second Operasi Lalang of mass arrests and suppression of human rights in Malaysia?"

He said "nobody believes" that Khalid and Zahid had acted independently.

"Let the IGP prove he is not political cat's paw of Zahid, out to extract vengeance for Najib's poor showing in the 13th general election," he said.

String of arrests

Yesterday, Anything But Umno (ABU) chief Haris Ibrahim, PKR vice-president Tian Chua and former Batu Berendam MP and PAS member Tamrin Ghafar were arrested for allegedly uttering seditious statements, while student activist Adam Adli Abdul Halim was charged with committing sedition.

PKR's Seri Setia assemblyperson Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad was on May 17 charged under Section 9(1) of the Peaceful Assembly Act for failing to give police a 10-day notice before holding the May 8 Blackout 505 rally in Kelana Jaya.

Today, it was revealed that newly-minted Ipoh Timor MP Thomas Su is to be charged under the same section on Monday,over a similar gathering that was held in Ipoh on May 9.