‘The police must be independent and protect the rights of all citizens regardless of political affiliations. After all, they are paid by the public not the government.’

On Protesters play cat and mouse with cops

Lucian Eng Hiang: Street demonstrations are part and parcel of the free and democratic world. It occurs frequently in the western world including United States, Australia, United Kingdom and Europe. Police usually escort these demonstrations to ensure that they cause minimal disruptions to the daily lives of all citizens while allowing for a true democratic process to take place.

Here in Malaysia, the police purposely cause traffic jams by putting up roadblocks in places far, far away (examples - SS2, Nilai, North-South highway) from the actual demonstration locations to ensure that there are maximum disruptions and collaborate with the ruling government to suppress the opposition.

Our police force must be independent and protect the rights of all citizens regardless of political affiliations. After all, they are paid by the public from public coffers and not by the government. Moreover, demonstrations have not and never caused investors to shy away from investing in United States, Australia, United Kingdom and other European countries.

Ali K: On Saturday, those who rioted on the streets of Kuala Lumpur were the people in uniform, paid by Malaysians to protect them. How ironic.

PKY: As per article 10(b) of the Federal Constitution, was it ‘necessary’ to blast cannons of chemically-laced water at children and women? Or was it really 'expedient' to fire tear gas at defenceless and helpless individuals, many of whom were not part of the protest?

Najib should be condemned for complimenting the police for their actions at Saturday’s protest. The imposition of such oppressive and unreasonable restrictions have once again demonstrated the executive's inability to govern a maturing democratic society like Malaysia.

Strong: I refer to Faidhur Rahman’s comment on Aug 2. While I respect his view, there is no doubt that ISA shall be use to curb terrorists, communists or whatever threat to the nation’s security. However, there is a question that I believed which was raised - the relevant and fairness in the usage of ISA.

Very often ISA had been used to 'shut up' the opposition needlessly. Although some BN members were once ISA detainees, it's hard to name any politician that was detained during his/her time 'in' the BN fold.

As per the Drug and Criminal Act, to use that as an example is simply out of topic. So, I truly understand the rakyat for being annoyed on the abuse of ISA by the government.

Maniam Shankar: The self-proclaimed people’s paper saw fit to run a headline report regarding the economic costs of street demos. But who caused the economic chaos? If even half the large number of police deployed to thwart the demonstrators were deployed to ensure the demonstration proceeded peacefully, there would not have been any chaos.

The police’s only purpose, it would seem, was to prevent citizens from turning up to show their disgust at this government. Why did people demonstrate even when the government said it is ‘reviewing’ the ISA?

That’s because our leaders’ lack credibility after having been in government for so long and not having done anything while the ISA was wantonly abused for political purposes.

On 'No in-out record': MACC advisor raises eyebrows

TCP: At this juncture in time, the MACC is clearly an institution devoid of public trust and confidence.

In MACC’s darkest hour and at its lowest ebb of credibility, only the MACC advisors can be seen to hold some level of trust to act on behalf of the institution by taking cognisance of some its shortcomings in its interrogation methods/procedure and also provide frank disclosure of events that may have transpired leading to Teoh Beng Hock’s tragic saga.

Such frank disclosure, without the necessity of going into further details of what transpired during the interrogation itself (this is for the inquest team and police to investigate) goes a long way to help appease the outpouring of anger by the public.

One of MACC advisors, Robert Phang, should be saluted for remaining level headed and professional with in his call for the public to remain calm in the face of heavy criticism leveled against MACC.

Pending the inquest report and any further development, I fully support Phang’s efforts and courage to place himself in a delicate situation in order to help restore calm and reduce public anger, as evidence by his presence and speech made in an opposition organised memorial for Teoh in Kuala Lumpur on July 23.

UD: Kudos to Robert Phang for speaking up! The MACC must not falter in its investigations on Teoh’s death. The public is watching its every move...

NEM: Kudos to Robert Phang for sticking out his neck to bring out news on this matter.

I urge MACC to accept advice from the Corruption Prevention and Consultation Panel advisors such as keeping proper log book and periodic briefing on investigations to avoid wrong perception by the public.

The public do not only want to see a smarter MACC but a respectable, just and fair, without-fear-and-favour MACC. I pray for the truth surrounding Beng Hock's death to emerge.