I read with much apprehension the arrest

and detention of legitimate foreign workers who happened to be IT professionals from India. In my opinion, this was an incident waiting to happen.

Every now and then, we hear of 'illegals' being arrested and made to squat, and generally humiliated in public by the authorities as these people are considered 'scums'.

I thought the danger of that is that o­ne day the authorities will goof up and apply this treatment to legitimate legal workers - which is precisely what they did o­n Sunday. How was that possible when a proper check of documents belonging to these workers would have authenticated the validity of their stay in Malaysia?

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar seems eager to dispute the actual number arrested. But let me tell you, honorable minister, if even o­ne person was wrongfully detained, that is bad enough already. There is no need to make a meal of the actual number.

The problem is we often see this treatment applied to Indonesian, Bangladeshis and Filipinos who are mostly unskilled workers. This time the authorities have run right smack into intelligent and educated people who know the law, and are generally a little bit 'brainier' than the authorities are used to.

What else can we expect from the powers that be other than the assertion that no misconduct had taken place? Next time, Malaysia should not complain when our diplomats are roughed up in Australia and US.

After hearing about this incident, I appreciate and understand more the work

and campaigning by lawyer P Uthayakumar. Most of us dismiss his actions as coming from a troublemaker and that he is o­nly defending the guilty party.

The point is, if we do not conform to legal norms and constitutional rights of the alleged guilty o­nes, sometimes the innocent party is made to suffer.

So to Uthayakumar, thank you for putting your comfort into jeopardy and for looking after the 'small' people like me.

For the rest of us, next time when we see people being rounded up in an inhumane manner, don't turn a blind eye - it might be you o­ne day.