COMMENT I did not know whether to laugh or to cry when I read about a Kuala Kangsar resident, 37-year-old Mohamad Halim Mohamad Ali who lodged several (I repeat, several) police reports regarding a comment made by PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli.

I hope that the Royal Malaysian Police, in particular, the inspector-general of police, Khalid Abu Bakar, will not be dragged into such madness by Mohamad Halim and three others who tried to implicate Rafizi for intending to hurl an “atom bomb” at Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak should Amanah candidate Professor Dr Ahmad Termizi Ramli win the by-election.

Surrounded by such fans of his in the likes of Jamal Yunos (Sungai Besar Umno chief), Ramesh Rao Krishnan Naidu (chairperson of Pertubuhan Minda dan Sosial Prihatin) and ministers such as Azalina Othman Said, Salleh Said Keruak and Abdul Rahman Dahlan, Najib is apparently getting more brickbats from the civil society because of their actions.

Come on, get real

In the first place, Mohamad Halim (photo) should realise that it would cost more than RM2.6 billion to even construct an atom bomb, and although Professor Termizi is a nuclear physicist, he is in no position to create an atom bomb.

It is because of such weird behaviour by Najib’s supporters that many of us are irked. This is also the reason why the country is plagued with various social ills that the police have failed to investigate.

According to the Women’s Aid Organisation, rape cases in Malaysia have tripled within just a decade since 2000 from a total of 1,217 cases to 2,998 cases in 2010. In a letter, PKR state assemblyperson for Bukit Lanjan, Elizabeth Wong, pointed out that a recent case involving an underaged woman and a civil servant must be investigated immediately.

The nation was also shocked to learn that a British paedophile has abused 200 children from as young as six months old to 12 years old between 2006 and 2014, yet within the span of eight years, the police were not in the know. Wong has urged the minister concerned to step up the investigations into rape cases.

The police’s time should be better spent on investigating the rape cases than trying to obtain a statement from Rafizi, but with an Umno leader as home minister, we will not be surprised that the police may be told to investigate Rafizi ‘Rutherford’; Ernest Rutherford being the physicist whose model of the atom became the basis for the ‘atomic’ or nuclear energy.

The country has fast turned into what cartoonist Zunar described as government with Cartoon-o-phobia.

As pointed out by Zunar in his latest book, ‘Wasabi - Wa Sapu Billion’, our politicians went frantic over a photograph of (PKR vice-president) Nurul Izzah Anwar but not billions of ringgit that have been gone missing after it was transferred to a British Virgin Islands-registered company which is unrelated to United Arab Emirate’s International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC).

Rafidah, reprimand Mohamad Halim

I have been an ardent supporter of former international trade and industry Rafidah Aziz, who was also the Member of Parliament for Kuala Kangsar.

For goodness sake, Rafidah, please haul up Mohamad Halim for a good reprimand.

As a senior Umno member, I wish that at least Rafidah with her tongue-lashing forthrightness would at least reprimand Mohamad Halim for his stupidity that reflects badly on the Malay community.

What the Malays need are people like Rafizi and Dr Termizi to uphold the dignity of the Malays in this country, not people in the likes of Mohamad Halim.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.