your say 'Intrusion and invasion, and uninvited entry into a closed-door meeting is a grave offence. Recording private proceedings is an utterly serious felony.'

 

'Undercover cop' has DAP livid

Ghkok: Who instructed this spying activity? This is like the Watergate scandal that led to Richard Nixon's resignation as president in the 1970s. This is scandalous and must be investigated - up to the very top of the chain of command.

Teh: BN must be desperate to resort to something like this - using government resources to spy on the opposition. How low can you get? Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein should apologise for such despicable behaviour by the police.

Nixon faced impeachment as president for a similar act. Will anybody be impeached here?

KayL: The inspector general of police (IGP) will probably say that it was just a peeping Tom who acted on his own - that it was frivolous, nothing serious. It is so sad that DAP has no other alternative but to report the matter to the police themselves. It's like reporting a gang member to the head of his gang...

Ben Hor: What has the IGP got to say to this? Probably the same old excuse like, "We need to protect national security," or "We want to make sure nothing seditious is said," or even "We are ensuring that DAP abides by the rules and not indulge in racial politics." Just another day in Malaysia.

Doc: Our royal police force (PDRM) training seems to be going from bad to worse (as with most things associated with PDRM). Ever an undercover cop can get busted, that too by a bunch of politicians.

Tan Kian Khim: How appropriately this reflects the state of affairs in the country now: it is members of the public who are apprehending police officers for illegal acts. Good job to DAP.

The special branch officer will now undergo a private dressing-down from the IGP for being so careless as to get caught by the DAP security, and that will be the end of the matter. After all, the PDRM has much more important work to pursue, such as harassing candlelight vigils and assisting MACC in their investigation of the huge 10kg cake gift to Nik Aziz Nik Mat.

Jimmy Ng: In any other ‘civilised' country, heads would roll, all the way up to and including the chief of police at the state, if not at the national level or even the home minister. But we are, after all, in Bolehland.

Cala: It's a case of institution versus organisation: When a person is caught taping the proceeding of a private meeting, the rule says that the complainant ought to file a report with the police. (Perak DAP chief) Ngeh Khoo Ham did just that.

In this ‘Watergate-Ipoh' case, the intruder happens to be a police personnel. The intruder works in the police force, and police, in this sense, is an organisation.

Since rules are man-made and their enforcement depends on man, justice to the aggrieved party (DAP in this case) may be illusory. Herein, the rule needs to be amended so that ‘another' organisation is given the task to investigate the illegal taping of the proceedings of the meeting.

As you would expect, the legislature is where laws and rules are made or amended. As it is, to ask the police to reprimand their own man is ludicrous. We'll have a better chance at the next general election (to put in place that ‘other' organisation).

Victor Johan: A serious crime has been committed. Intrusion and invasion, and uninvited entry into a closed-door meeting is a grave offence. Recording private proceedings is an utterly serious felony.

The police personnel should be reprimanded and the matter thoroughly investigated. His bosses - the home minister, the inspector general of police and the Perak police chief - should answer for this despicable act.

Koh Lian Peng: This is Watergate. The people of Malaysia have the rights to know who gave the instructions to the Special Branch to spy on a political party convention. This is misusing public instruments.

Loh Jun Jean: The IGP acts very fast when somebody reports something superficial about what was said by Lim Guan Eng. I wonder how fast their response will be to this incident. We'll probably never hear about this matter again as it gets swept under the carpet.

Md Imraz Muhammed Ikhbal: So this is what our police force is all about. What are their priorities in terms of national security? Spying on the opposition? And yet, we wonder why the deplorable crime rate in the country is escalating. What do you expect when the ones entrusted to protect us and our families are the very criminals we should be wary about?

Magnus: Does anyone seriously expect the police force to police itself and investigate offences reported against its own personnel? What and where would be the incentive for them to do that?

Hello: The BN government should just stop all the ‘sandiwara' and transfer the police department to make it a bureau under Umno.