Sometimes, even the most forgettable of celluloid productions can offer some of the most memorable scenes, peppered with powerful words. This is described as "reel life wisdom".

One such movie is the 'Last Knights' starring Morgan Freeman - whose name on the DVD sleeve must have convinced many to watch this unimaginative flick with a recycled plot of vengeance.

It is a tale of valour and honour set against a backdrop of an empire boasting of ministers, noblemen and warriors of various ethnicity.

Freeman does not disappoint despite his brief role nor does the person who penned the dialogue.

Freeman's powerful articulation on matters of corruption and oppression before the emperor is enthralling and could serve as a lesson for those in positions of power:

Below are some examples:

"For far too long, I failed to recognise my own hypocrisy. I ignored my own cowardice, conveniently hiding behind a position of political compromise.

"And for what? To retain the meagre wealth and rank that men desire.

"So I come before you a condemned man for having finally stood up to injustice. My shame and regret is failing to do so before it arrived in my own court.

"We supply the armies, we build the roads and we employ the nation. Still we remain silent while our coffers are emptied and our freedoms eroded.

"There will be times where we are powerless to injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.

"Remember, the wounds of honour are self-inflicted." (This quote is perhaps the most poignant of all)

Double standards

Now, for a dose of "real life wisdom".

Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali has been accused of bruising the reputation of the Royal Malaysian Police with his less than polite question as to whether their chief is an "Umno lackey"?

The poser comes in the wake of numerous arrests following the anti-GST protest last week.

Can Azmin be faulted for seeking a clarification on this? And is he alone in pondering this question?

For long, the police have been accused of double standards, dragging their feet on cases involving ruling politicians but acting swiftly against opposition politicians and civil society leaders.

The public are still waiting for the conclusion of the probe on former deputy minister Mashitah Ibrahim ( photo ) who made an erroneous claim about the Chinese community torching the Quran.

This was despite a mentally unsound Malay individual having been arrested in connection with the case earlier.

Mashitah had not bothered to establish the facts before uttering an inflammatory statement at an open forum. Her speech contained all the prerequisite ingredients for a roasting in the Sedition Act pit.

When her mistake was pointed out, the Umno division leader was far from apologetic and dismissed the police reports against her with an air of arrogance, which observers claimed was inflated by the belief that she is above the law.

An investigation commenced, recordings of her speech - both audio and visual - were procured and numerous witnesses interviewed. But months have passed with no updates. Is this another file stamped "NFA" or "No Further Action"?

Church incident

At the same Umno general assembly last December, another delegate claimed that the Chinese in Penang had profited from gambling and prostitution as well as other immoral business ventures. There was an uproar, police reports and then... silence.

In March, Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the police found no need to detain the pair because the recording of their statements and initial investigations were completed within 24 hours of police reports being made against Mashitah and Ismail Sabri.

Would it be wrong to assume that if such incendiary remarks were made by opposition politicians, a different situation would have unraveled?

The police chief would have tweeted his orders as he is fond of doing, a police team would have raided the politicians' houses in the wee hours of the morning and arrested them.

The offenders would have been produced in court the next day, handcuffed, garbed in the customary lock-up outfit and barefooted.

The recent protest against a church which placed the cross at a 'disturbing height' for Muslims is another case in example.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, in reversing his decision to repeal the Sedition Act, had argued that the law needed to be fortified to deal with issues concerning race and religion that threaten to plunge this nation into chaos.

The Taman Medan protest fulfilled the requirements stipulated by the prime minister, especially when the protesters warned that if the church did not lower the cross, they would do so themselves.

Any right-minded individual would consider this protest as a greater threat to peace and a direct assault on the hallowed document that is the Federal Constitution which guarantees freedom of worship compared to a demonstration against a new tax. Then again common sense does not rank high in the police or government.

The smoke bombs and fireworks at the anti-GST rally could be easily extinguished but the explosive concoction in the church protest could have torched the multi-religious fabric of this nation.

Irreparable point

But the police chief was not perturbed and classified the church protest as a " flash mob ". He exonerated the protesters of  dabbling with seditious elements even without an investigation.

Apart from an "exhaustive" three-hour interview session for his brother ( photo ) who was purportedly there to mediate between the protesters and church officials, there were no predawn arrests or raiding of houses.

While these individuals who brought shame to the nation on an international scale are treated courteously, luminaries like Ambiga Sreenevasan, however, are made to wait for hours for her statement to be recorded.

This gives the impression that the police are misusing their powers and the legal process to punish certain people on the pretext of facilitating investigations.

Such actions also hammer more the nails into the coffin that bears the cadaver of the prime minister's pledge of transformation and reform.

The police, like the government, suffer from a perception crisis which appears to have reached an irreparable point.

There is no need for draconian legislation such as the Sedition Act if mutual respect is inculcated while the state and its apparatuses display leadership by example of this.

But this is an utopian scenario in a nation where race and religion are exploited for votes without any regard for the consequences.

As for now, the only thing which is seditious in Malaysia is the apparent selective prosecution.

And it is pointless to whine about one's reputation being tarnished when as in the words of Freeman, "Wounds of honour are self-inflicted".

RK Anand is a member of the Malaysiakini Team