He may not be contesting the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat but Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar was the target of yesterday’s political ceramah by PKR.
Amid a group of 200, PKR deputy president Azmin Ali asked if there were special branch officers (SBs) at the event, as he wanted to send Khalid a message.
The crowd shouted “Yes!”.
"SBs, please come in front, please ask your chief if he wants to be an IGP, or a ' barua ' (lackey) of BN and Umno,” said the Selangor Menteri Besar, to loud cheer from the crowd.
“I want to ask the people of Permatang Pauh, and you have to answer this tonight, the IGP you have now, does he take care of the country’s security or the security of Umno and BN? Answer now,” Azmin ( left ) demanded.
“Umno!” they shouted, while Azmin said “Great. Congratulations.”
As soon as he said this, a group of women in the audience laughed, and Azmin asked if they were afraid of police detention.
He urged the group to be fearless of arrest, saying “let the prison
be full of people”.
“Get yourself arrested and you can go to the Sungai Buloh prison to see PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim,” Azmin quipped.
Anwar is in prison for five years for a sodomy conviction since Feb 10. He lost the Permatang Pauh seat when he failed to obtain a royal pardon for his early release.
His wife and PKR's candidate Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail is facing Umno's Suhaimi Sabudin, PRM's Azman Shah Othman and independent Salleh Isahak.
The by-election campaign - in its ninth day, is only three days away from polling day - May 7, Thursday.
Police 'cruel or fair'?
Meanwhile, Azmin was clearly upset with the police for detaining about 30 opposition leaders and social activists including former Bar Council chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan in connection with the anti-GST rally on May Day, Friday.
Organisers of the protest, held in Kuala Lumpur, hailed the event a success as it was joined by 20,000.
Azmin questioned the need for the police to detain and hold the group at the police station for several hours. Some like Ambiga ( right ), were held overnight.
"Is this cruel or fair?" he asked. The crowd replied "cruel".
"This is too extreme. Where is the professionalism of the IGP? Did he detain his own brother?" Azmin asked.
The crowd said "No!"
He was referring to Khalid's elder sibbling Abdullah Abu Bakar who courted trouble when he led a group of 50 to demand that a cross be removed from church in Petaling Jaya.
Police have yet to act on the group as swiftly as they have launched probes under the Sedition Act on opposition leaders, activists and journalists.
No insult to IGP
In the same breath, Azmin clarified that he was not targetting the lower rank policemen as he did Khalid as most were "professional".
"When our friends were in the lock-up, the police told them to continue to fight," Azmin claimed.
"Only one or two of them on the top are ' hantu raya ' (devils)," he said.
"But what is the point of having high posts when you have no dignity or principles," he added.
"One must be an IGP who has dignity and principles to gain respect or else you will be hated by the people for being a lackey of Umno and BN," he said as the crowd clapped.
When met by reporters after his speech, Azmin admitted that his speech was rather “fiery” last night as the 12-day Permatang Pauh campaign is reaching its peak.
Asked if he were insulting civil servants by using the word “ barua ”, Azmin denied it.
“I am only asking the IGP if he is the 'barua' of Umno, I am not accusing him. I am asking him and the voters of Permatang Pauh. You mean, in Malaysia, we cannot ask anything, anymore ?” he quipped.
"He has to answer to these questions, but his answers must be supported by his actions, not by his tweet," Azmin quipped, referring to Khalid's fondness for tweeting directives to his men to act on political dissidents.
