VOXPOP 'No identification numbers and no name tags. SOP (standard operating procedures) for such duties, IGP?'

'Police became brutal after hearing rumours'

vox populi small thumbnail HangTuah: No identification numbers and no name tags. SOP (standard operating procedures) for such duties, inspector-general of police Ismail Omar? I am not even sure if these are really bona fide police officers.

True cops do not take the law into their own hands. They don't go amok on the basis of a rumour. There you go Tun (Dr Mahathir Mohamad), they are the product of your indoctrination.

You must be really proud of your boys for having the grit and guts to put down an 'uprising' to overthrow the government.

Onyourtoes: Oh, now it is rumours that one of the police officers was killed that caused the rampage.

Look, the life and the safety of police officers are no greater than any citizen. If they value their life and safety too much, maybe they should think of a career change.

Look at the videos being shown everywhere on what happened on April 28. It reminds me of Rodney King in LA (Los Angeles) in 1992 who was beaten by the police.

We thought it was bad for King, but in KL (Kuala Lumpur) that day, there were hundreds of ‘Rodney Kings'. If there were few bad apples in LA Police Department, I must say the whole KL police contingent was bad that day.

By the way, the rumour could have been deliberately started to create anger among the police to inflict maximum harm to the rally participants.

1 Dream: Prime Minister Najib Razak and the IGP visited the lone police officer in hospital who was bashed up by the protesters. What about the scores of protesters injured more severely than this police officer?

There are always two sides to a coin. How can our PM be so biased that he only showed sympathy to the police and not the rakyat.

This clearly shows that the police and all government personnel receive extra protection from the ruling party.

Anonymous #38404485: My heart bleeds reading how these two boys were beaten up so ruthlessly.

This terrorising of the public was obviously in their agenda otherwise why were the police not wearing any name tags? They had been given orders from the top to punish Bersih 3.0 participants.

Datos: Does this mean if there is a similar incident in your housing area, everyone will be pulled out of their houses in the vicinity and pulverised? What is our beloved country coming to?

Dr Jacob George: Stop the lame excuses for the violence and brutality. If you are unable to withstand provocation, tough and challenging situations, you are not a professional - you are unfit to wear that police uniform. Period.

Gobsmacked!: Hisham, the honourable home minister, so the police were professional in carrying out their duties?

Read this. And how about others who attacked the protesters far away from the protected zone?

Mr IGP, let's see the results of your investigations. Do we need another Suhakam inquiry or RCI (royal commission of inquiry)?

The men in blue - Gestapo, samseng, hoodlums? But they are paid with taxpayers money.

Even though they may have hidden their name tags and serial numbers, their colleagues will know who they are.

Enlightened: This is too much. No use filing a report to Suhakam, etc. People have lost faith in the Malaysian judiciary.

We should team up with the independent observers and file a class action suit at the international courts. That is the only way.

Righteous: I just saw a video of a traffic cop with his gun drawn and aimed at protesters. Whatever happened to the use of like force?

Was the police officer or anyone else having their life threatened ? That is the only reason I could see for this guy to draw his gun and aim at a civilian.

Are the cops actually trained or just handed the weapons and given target practice? Responsible policing would see weapons used as an absolute last resort. KL is not the wild, wild west.

IGP apologises to cameraman hurt at assembly

Smartvoters: The journalists are not stupid, IGP. They will always put on their media tags. It is a very basic requirement when they do their duty.

I am very sure they would more than doubly ensure that they wear their media tags, especially when covering protest actions in Malaysia knowing the history of police brutality against protestors.

After all, this is not the first time journalists were targeted or became victims of such brutalities.

Bumiasli: Again, we have a high-ranking officer commenting without thinking. Firstly, it is unprofessional for any senior officer to apologise to one single individual.

Secondly, the excuse of not being able to recognise journalists is nonsense. And then suggesting that journalists should wear vests with ‘media' printed on it to prevent attack from the police is shocking.

I think he should first advise his own men to wear badges and name tags. Then he should educate them to handle unarmed protesters.

Bersih can consider wearing T-shirts saying ‘Manusia' for the next rally so that the police can recognise that they are humans.

Free And Fair Election: Does that give you the right to hit civilians just because we do not have the press tag? You owe the nation an apology. Your men have failed to protect the nation, which is the sole purpose of the police.

Hello: The IGP should not only apologise to the journalists but also the the people who attended Bersih 3.0. Further saying that they the police could not recognise the journalists from the public is a downright lie.

We have journalists on record producing their press cards which were ignored and with police continuing to assault the journalists and destroying their cameras and memory cards.

So this apology is the most insincere we have today. We can only believe this apology if he can produce those responsible and charge them.

CiViC: "In the chaos of the situation, we could not tell the difference between the assembly participants and media." Yeah, right!

People with cameras were systematically targeted, there were no instructions to identify them at all, the objective was simple - seek and destroy evidence.

 

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