Hisham to police: Use less force in Ipoh tomorrow
The police need not use excessive force to control tomorrow's Perak assembly sitting, said Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.
The police need not use excessive force to control tomorrow's Perak assembly sitting, said Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.
He said the police could resort to force if "it is really, really necessary" .
"I reminded them that it is important to act based on the circumstances and situation," he told reporters in Parliament today.
"I don't want to see excessive force (used) unless it is really, really necessary. I think they have the expertise (to determine the situation) based on their experience before this."
Hishammuddin is confident that the security situation will be normal as the police "are already experts when it comes to preventing unwarranted circumstances".
"The police will monitor (the situation) so that, whatever happens, it would not disturb the safety and peace of the people of Perak.
"If it runs smoothly, then I am confident that the police will ensure everything will run according to the law."
The minister did not rule out the possibility of police intervention if a fresh dispute arises over the claim to the speaker's chair.
"We will see what happens," he said.
Collision course?
The nation's attention tomorrow will be on the Perak state secretariat building where both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat elected representatives look set to be on a collision course.
The two sides have called for a sitting on the same day, with separate notices being issued by BN's R Ganesan and Pakatan's V Sivakumar.
The May 7 assembly sitting was marred by a fracas in the House followed by the physical removal of Sivakumar from the speaker's chair by the police, on Ganesan's instructions.
About 80 Pakatan supporters were also arrested outside the state secretariat building and some claimed to have been injured by the police.
DAP leader: Police must be fair
Meanwhile, in Ipoh , state DAP chief Ngeh Khoo Ham said the police should concentrate on its efforts to tackle on real crimes instead of prosecuting "political crimes".
He said the police force was fast gaining negative perception by only taking actions against Pakatan representatives and not against BN leaders.
He added that they were quick to investigate police reports lodged by BN politicians but were dragging their feet on reports lodged by Pakatan.
He also confirmed that the police were looking for Sivakumar to take his statement under Section 111 of the Criminal Procedure Code to investigate a crime of misuse of the government property.
Sivakumar found a police notice asking for his statement in his letterbox yesterday.
"The timing of this request two days before the sitting of the state assembly tomorrow leaves room for suspicion that the police are not fair and are selective in their investigation.
"In this case, serving the notice with one day's notice is hardly giving reasonable time for the recipient to respond," Ngeh said.
[With additional reports by Humayun Kabir]
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