The laws and regulations in the country that have been around since a long time ago will not make it possible for Malaysia to become a police state as claimed by DAP secretary-general, Lim Guan Eng.

Inspector-general of police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar said such a claim was baseless as the police were also subjected to the laws and regulations as enshrined in the Federal Constitution.

“Our country can never be a police state because if we flout the laws, action will be taken against us. How can this country be a police state when we are also subjected to the laws and regulations under the constitution? So, are the Members of Parliament," he said.

Khalid was speaking at a press conference after attending the ‘Dialogue with IGP: Undergraduates’ Role in Overcoming National Security Threats’ at Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) in Sintok today.

He was responding to Lim’s commentary in an online news portal in which he questioned whether the country had turned into a police state, claiming that Khalid was seen as someone who could not be criticised.

Lim also claimed that Khalid had arrogantly warned Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching to keep mum after Teo insisted that the police investigate immediately the alleged threat received by Bersih 2.0 rally chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah.

Khalid said he did not intend to stop Teo from being vocal, but posed a question back why the Kulai MP did not question his (Khalid’s) decision of not arresting Maria Chin who also flouted the law.

“It’s obvious that she (Teo) is trying to politicise this issue. If it’s constructive criticism, I can take it. But if she condemns us, accuses us of being biased, I can’t accept that,” he said.

‘Efforts made to recruit students to join IS’

On another development, Khalid said he would not deny that there were efforts made by certain quarters to recruit university students to join the Islamic State (IS) militant group, but the Bukit Aman Special Task Force had always joined hands with higher education institutions to curb such attempts.

“They (IS) will influence anyone such as varsity students and those with problems because such individuals always need a shoulder to lean on. If they (IS) give whatever these people want, they will eventually be influenced by any ideology,” he said.

Earlier, in his speech, UUM vice-chancellor Prof Dr Mohamed Mustafa Ishak said a research conducted by the university’s lecturers at the School of International Studies (SoIS) through Institute for Youth Research (IYRES) revealed there was potential for students to accept the IS ideology, although the number was small.

“This is a pioneer research study on IS and it involves 2,000 respondents from four zones in peninsular Malaysia.

“It was found that 15.1 percent of the respondents had respect for the IS ideology, 19.5 per cent were willing to contribute their energy, 9.3 percent believed they would go to heaven as a reward by joining the IS struggle and 7.9 percent were willing to donate to the IS cause,” he said.

Therefore, Mohamed Mustafa said the IS ideology must be curbed through more conctrete measures such as giving detailed explanations on IS, as the varsity students did not have a clear picture of the dangers of the IS threats.

- Bernama