PKR vice-president N Surendran will go ahead to have a "skin feeling" at the police's next operation against armed criminals despite urgings for him not to accept the invitation from inspector-general of police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar.

"I have been bombarded on my Twitter in the last couple of days with people asking me not to go (accept the invitation)," said the lawyer, who has been critical of the police's alleged high-handedness when dealing with criminals in dangerous situations.

NONEHowever, he told Malaysiakini that as an elected representative, he should not decline the offer, which he described as an opportunity to "experience" how police officers do their jobs and the hazards they face.

The bizarre offer was made to him by the IGP during a Twitter exchange late Friday night, after Surendran criticised the police's conduct in shooting dead 10 suspected criminals over three days.

"I have accepted the offer, so I will go," said the Padang Serai MP, who will be going to the Bukit Aman police headquarters at 2pm tomorrow to collect his bullet proof vest and to work out the technicalities involved in the offer.

"I am not sure what I will have to sign. We will go there tomorrow and see what they say, and we will take it from there," he said.

However, Surendran said the offer has very little to do with issues he had raised in the past, especially regarding the police's operating procedures when it comes to confronting armed criminals.

Shoot-first remarks

In August, the police shot dead five individuals at an apartment in Penang - one among many cases of police shooting dead suspected criminals nationwide - and this has sparked criticism from human rights proponents like Surendran himself.

The police have justified the shootings, claiming that the suspects were armed and had shot at the police, and thus they had to act in self-defence.

After the recent spate of violent crimes in the country, the police have reacted with more operations - introducing Ops Cantas to weed out suspected criminals and also, with the help of Home Ministry, listing down 49 outlawed underworld syndicates.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had sparked a controversy over his ‘shoot first' remarks made at a gathering in Malacca.

The Prevention of Crime Act (Amednment and Extension) Act 2013 was recently passed by the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara, which would provide the police with powers to conduct preventive detention again - an aspect that the police believe would help keep criminals off the streets.