There was the drama...there was the verbal duel...and an hour after the crowd had left, there was, of course, Dell Akbar Khan.

As the acting police chief, Dell had put up quite an act and delivered with great verbal dexterity, a script that did not jell.

His orders to prevent a planned indoor anti-ISA meeting from proceeding, did not go down well with the organisers.

Very ironically Dell had in fact "launched" and gave prominence to the very campaign which he was hell-bent in stopping.

Indeed, the organisers of the ISA Mala Fide campaign gained even greater publicity than they could have planned for.

The police action was a "live" confirmation of what the speakers would have wanted to say about the police (and the ISA).

The crowd that gathered for the launching saw for themselves a further example of "bad faith" exhibited by the police.

Dell's action was absolutely illogical. He has provided the public with further delectation with his conjured up horror scenes.

There was no proof or evidence or any indication whatsoever that (in Dell's words) "the situation would get out of control".

Was Dell in a delirium to believe that "all Malaysians" would turn up at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (SCAH)?

Dell's fear that "we cannot control" (his imagined crowd) has a deleterious effect on the image of the police.

Surely, the Royal Malaysian Police, reputed to be among the best in the world, can deal with any crowd.

Dell's excuse that the SCAH is meant "only for members" just would not sell.

Surely he knows that the Hall has had many forums and meetings which have been opened to members of the public.

Dell was very desperate. He needed a "prerogative" (read as "excuse") — no matter how poor, pale or pathetic.

The speakers may have wanted to highlight the wrongful use of the ISA and it being used as a weapon of intimidation.

Can be a better illustration of this than Dell's yell to the press: "Do you know what is preventive detention?"

Can there be a better example of a "mean world" than police attacking innocent people living out their constitutional rights?

Is this how we show the world that we are (in the PM's words) "more democratic than most other democratic countries"?

Pray tell, Dell. Alas, there is much that Dell needs to deliberate on!