COMMENT Someone please help me, I am confused!

When I woke up on Saturday morning, the first thing that greeted me on Malaysiakini was the statement by inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar on the six-day remand order obtained against a former Umno division deputy leader, Khairuddin Abu Hassan.

According to Khalid, Khairuddin is suspected of being involved in a “conspiracy to topple the government”.

Half-way through Mark Trowell’s book, ‘The Prosecution of Anwar Ibrahim’, it rings a bell as former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and his men were also arrested and accused of toppling the government.

In a well-crafted statement, IGP Khalid said: “This is clearly an act to challenge the Malaysian legal system, undermines the credibility of local enforcement agencies and invites foreign interference in Malaysia's democratic system.

“This is a form of sabotage which could destabilise the country’s economy and sovereignty.”

To those who read the mainstream news, this sounds an alarm. Is Khairuddin ( photo ) a communist, a Jew or an agent with the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)?

Is he part of a bigger conspiracy to topple the Malaysian government, involving even the investigative authorities in countries such as the United States, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Singapore and Hong Kong?

So, is lodging a complaint an offence?

If he was part of a local conspiracy to pressure Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to step down even before The Wall Street Journal published the damning article about the RM2.6 billion in Najib’s personal bank accounts, which is a more plausible explanation, then, who is the real mastermind? Why is the henchman arrested but mastermind still at large?

Now, it’s an offence?

Khairuddin is at the most a disgruntled Umno member. If there is nothing to hide, there is no reason to even stop him from lodging his complaints with the authorities overseas.

But, since when is making an official complaint to the FBI, for example, an offence? If Najib has nothing to hide and the police are not being used by him, as clearly stated in the IGP’s statement, he should instruct the police to release Khairuddin and allow him to do what he chooses to do - at his own expense, of course!

Let the authorities investigate. If Najib is being investigated himself, let him be the Bugis warrior that he is and answer all the questions posed by the investigative bodies. This is our dignity as a nation, if the FBI, for example, clears the prime minister of any wrongdoing.

After all, if you believe that the papers submitted by Khairuddin were fake, just sit back, with your arms folded, provide the proof to show that the papers are fake without a doubt! What is it so difficult for Najib or any officials linked to the 1MDB scandal?

So, please tell me, exactly what is so wrong about Khairuddin lodging complaints with various investigative bodies? What’s wrong with all these authorities investigating the 1MDB? Do they not have the moral obligations to investigate, especially if a law had been broken in their own countries?

Firstly, there are no laws to prohibit anyone from lodging a complaint with any authority around the world, or is there?

Not a single act of aggression from Khairuddin

Secondly, there was not a single act of aggression from Khairuddin that suggests that he was trying to topple the government.

How could he then topple an entire regime? He is doing what former prime minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad did previously when he ‘toppled’ Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Forcing Pak Lah to step down is not the same as toppling an entire government.

Pak Lah was still the Member of Parliament elected by the people. Najib, too, will remain the MP of Pekan, although he may not necessarily be the prime minister. Parliamentary democracy, which comes under Section 124C of the Penal Code, does not guarantee the position of the prime minister for life.

In fact, the post is only for anyone who enjoys the support of the majority and this is to be decided by the lawmakers themselves in Parliament, not the IGP, of course! Today, Najib may be Khalid’s big boss, tomorrow it could be Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah! ( photo )

The fact that the authorities in some of these countries are willing to open an investigation file shows that they have reason to believe that a wrong may have been committed.

Even if tomorrow Najib or any of the senior officials linked to 1MDB is on the Interpol’s Red Alert, or arrested in a foreign country, is the IGP saying that the Barisan Nasional government would collapse?

If the IGP believes it will, then this government needs to be overhauled from within, because it may be standing on shaky grounds.

What’s wrong then?

As pointed out by former Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan, Khairuddin’s six-day remand appears more like an abuse of power. “The remand is not supposed to be a punishment, and I think it is a total abuse to hold him for six days,” Ambiga is quoted as saying.

Ambiga, of course, is not one person who will make baseless accusations. One of the Bersih 2.0 steering committee’s members, Mandeep Singh, for example, told me that he was being detained for four days.

However, for the first three days, there was hardly any investigation done, but investigation was only carried out at the eleventh hour.

Increasingly, we are seeing this happening. Like many, I tend to agree with Ambiga that “such abuse of the remand procedure must stop”.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.