The police seem to have done it again. If you have been an observer of democracy in Malaysia, you must recall the role of the police in a number of critical situations in the last couple of years. That should have made you wonder if you are living in a democracy. And whether there is really any security.

The police action during the East Timor meeting (in1996), the Anwar episode, the Kampung Medan incident, lawyer P Uthayakumar's queries about the deaths of Indian Malaysians in police custody and the more recent raiding of the malaysiakini office, in addition to countless other situations, all certainly make ordinary Malaysians nervous. It is part of the 'background fear' we live with. Certainly, this is very unhealthy for building a strong resilient democracy.

Officialdom likes to tell us: "If you have not done anything wrong, you need not be afraid". Such statements do not seem to provide any definite confidence anymore. The fact is that anything is possible and citizens and (foreign) guests do not seem to have much defence against the behaviour of the police. And unfortunately it seems to become worse o­nce you are within the territory of the police station.

If anything, the recent raiding and arrest of bonafide Indian IT professionals in Kuala Lumpur has o­nly proved the above observation further. Leave alone how the Indian nationals feel about it, it certainly makes many citizens here nervous and silently frustrated. Local employers, for instance, were unable to meet their bonafide Indian IT employees who were in the station.

It is therefore no surprise that many Indian professionals, with bonafide passports and visas, have already left Malaysia or are planning to leave, resulting in an immediate vacuum in the IT labour market.

In addition, the 'just doing their job' police action may lead to not o­nly an economic injury of the nation but also souring of bilateral relations, all of which we do not need now, not after all that talk of unity and solidarity and so o­n at NAM, held less than a month ago.

If the police 'just doing their job' could achieve all that, then they really need to do some serious reflection and self-assessment. Perhaps Suhakam should step in to seriously propose institutional reforms. In the long run, the police can o­nly protect a democracy by seriously practising it. And they must be seen to do so impartially.