I refer to the Malaysiakini report Protest against Israel turns into war of words .

It appeared that the protest rally was led by Umno Youth. The irony was that the Palestinian Ambassador to Malaysia Abdel Aziz was not too happy with the Hamas leaders’ photos being carried by some of the protestors.

Was this demonstration legal or illegal? It appeared to be an illegal one. If so, why was it allowed? Where were the so-called ‘efficient’ police mentioned by the honourable prime minister?

Shouldn't the police act swiftly against the protestors? Or was it allowed because it was organised by Umno Youth? Are there two laws in this country - one for Umno and another for others ?

Remember another demonstration led by the Umno Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin against the visit by US Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice at the KLCC? There again, the police did not act against the protestors.

Instead, they controlled the traffic. What about the inconvenience caused to motorists that day?

Now compare those two demonstrations with the recent action at vigils by anti-ISA protestors. Compare again with the action against the Jerit cyclists. There, again, the police were unduly ‘efficient’.

Again, are there two standards?

We must always be mindful that there is only one law in this country and that the same law applies to all - no double standards. And it is the PM's pronouncement that ‘no one is above the law’. If all are equal before the law, then practise it.

Last year we had seen several incidents where the law had been messed up. Anwar Ibrahim was waylaid by policemen on his way home. Before his appointment with the police at 2pm he was ambushed and taken in.

The CID director said that the police were ‘professional’. If they were indeed ‘professional’ people, they should have waited until 2pm for Anwar to keep his appointment with them.

Note that he had a morning session with the ACA and because of his appointment with the police in the afternoon, he had to rush back for his lunch before going to the police station by 2pm. But he was arrested before the appointed time probably to show that the police were ‘professional’.

Then there was the blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin. Because some Umno chap wanted to shut him up for his blogging, he was asked to report to the police station and it was reported that he was grilled for 17 hours.

To rub salt into the wound, his wife was hauled up and was also grilled for some hours. What did his wife do to be inconvenienced and embarrassed? And just before his case, PKR was detained under the ISA and sent off to Kamunting.

Then there were other incidents. For example in Penang, one Umno member shouted that the Chinese were ‘squatters’ in Malaysia. What happened to him? Nothing. Where is the principle ‘no one is above the law?’

To add insult to injury, a Sin Chew reporter was detained under the ISA for faithfully reporting that incident. The home minister gave a laughable excuse, that she was detained to ‘protect’ her.

The ISA was never intended by the British to detain a reporter. It was never intended to ‘protect’ a person. It was meant for terrorists. Period.