VIDEO | 2:27 mins

Inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar today claimed that national laureate A Samad Said had quietly sneaked back into his house after midnight, forcing police to take him into custody in the wee hours of morning.

"We went there in the evening, but he was not in the house. He only came back at midnight, he came back quietly, and we were waiting. So we took him in," he told a a press conference after attending a forum on crime.

"We already asked him to surrender but he did not. Why can't we (arrest at midnight)?" he asked.

“Why blame the police for taking action? This should have been thought about before insulting the national flag,” he said.

‘Flag sowing hatred in the nation’

Khalid also said that the action of raising the Sang Saka Malaya flag, for which Samad was detained, was an act of sowing hatred towards the country.

“If you want to raise this flag, then anyone can raise their own flags in this country,” he said.

“Why don’t you give respect to the national flag?” he asked.

“We want people who will nurture the act of loving the country, not to sow hatred for the country by raising these flags,” he explained.

Fondly known as Pak Samad, the national laureate was arrested at his home at around midnight two days ago, and subsequently questioned till 2.30am.

Earlier, political activist Hishamuddin Rais and student activist Adam Adli were both arrested over the raising of the Sang Saka Malaya flag during Merdeka celebrations at Dataran Merdeka recently.

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