'Dragging army into politics': PAS Youth turns to King

PAS Youth today submitted a memorandum to the King, protesting the government move in ‘wrongfully’ dragging the army into the arena of domestic politics.

Leading a five-member delegation, PAS Youth chief Salahuddin Ayub submitted the three-page memorandum to Istana Negara senior administrative officer Guli Tahir.

He later told reporters that the joint police-army exercise had given the wrong picture of the situation in the country.

There has been no incident or intelligence report to indicate that the country is under threat by any party, to warrant the deployment of both the police and army to manage domestic security, said Salahuddin.

Not only has the army been dragged into politics, but its “credibility and integrity” have been eroded over the incident. The country, meanwhile, has been wrongfully portrayed as undergoing domestic turmoil, he said.

“The question is, has the situation reached such a serious stage as to force the Royal Malaysian Police and Malaysian Armed Forces to hold joint exercises?” Salahuddin asked in his memorandum.

On July 2, Inspector-general of police Musa Hassan reportedly said the joint exercise was to identify strategies and procedures to deal with public order. He claimed this was in view of disturbances to public order, including demonstrations by certain quarters with their own agenda.

“It is the responsibility of both parties (police and army) to ensure the safety of the public and the country,” said Musa in the Bernama report.

Three days later, however, Musa clarified that the public should not worry about the joint exercise or to misinterpret its objectives as being to restrict peaceful assemblies.

The exercises are only meant to test the preparedness of the army and police in dealing with their respective shortcomings when deploying personnel in the event of an erosion of public order, he said.

‘No justification’

In the memorandum, Salahuddin noted that the holding of demonstrations does not justify intervention by the security forces.

“Even if a demonstration or public gathering is held, it is not something foreign to the framework of the democratic system practised by this country. The right to peacefully assemble is guaranteed to all Malaysians as enshrined in the Article 10 of the Federal Constitution.

“It is only the police, I believe, who are influenced by the ruling parties that restrict this constitutional right from being exercised by the people by denying the permit on the pretext that any gathering held by opposition parties threaten public order.

“In many instances, including what I myself have experienced, the people have merely assembled in small groups and walked peacefully and calmly, but it is the police who have acted harshly and to the extreme that led to disturbances.”

He called on the King - as supreme commander of the armed forces - to prevent the armed forces from being used “to oppose the people who are only seeking to exercise their right to assemble as provided for by the Federal Constitution”.

Salahuddin also urged the monarch to intervene and stop further joint exercises, as these have negative implications for the system of democratic and parliamentary rule, and are a waste of public funds.

Watch a 3-min video of the memorandum handing over in Malaysiakini.tv .