COMMENT The Royal Malaysian Police Force used to be one of the great institutions of this country, known for its professionalism and competence.

Its officers strictly followed not only the official rules of engagement when dealing with suspects and the public, but also the unwritten rule that the force must be completely non-partisan and must deal with all problems professionally, without having to be “politically acceptable”.

Those days are gone. Today, the force is much despised and people fear police officers, rather than trust them. The present inspector-general of police (IGP) is the worst police chief, by far, this country has ever had.

There have been many deaths in police custody and there have been few attempts to inquire into these deaths, let alone establish an entirely independent inquiry.

The shooting of unarmed civilians, such as the young boy Aminulrasyid Amzah in 2010 for no greater crime than driving his sister’s car without a licence, speaks volumes of the state of the police today.

The latest example of high-handedness was the arrest of Sidek Kamiso (photo) for “insulting Islam” in a tweet.

The arrest was made at 4.30am, according to Sidek’s lawyer, and he was taken to Johor to be remanded. He was being treated like a jihadist from Islamic State. It was almost like a special operation by the police. No warrant was issued, like it was an arrestable (serious) offence. Sidek was just tweeting, for God’s sake, and how serious can that be?

And why the need to ask for a remand order? The police already had 24 hours to question the suspect, and why need to detain him further? Many magistrates in our country are too scared to refuse remand applications, so it has become the norm for the police to arrest a suspect first and investigate later.

This is the reason why they always ask for remand orders but, again, it is an abuse of power: the law says that all arrests should be made after proper investigations.

It is only in exceptional cases where investigations of complicated cases are still incomplete - and there is a likelihood of the suspect not cooperating or absconding - that a remand order is issued to facilitate the investigation.

I say again: remand orders do not exist to make police work less difficult by allowing the arrest of suspects without a proper investigation.

Fortunately, for Sidek, he has a good lawyer in Johor Baru - Roger Chan - and there was a good and sensible magistrate on the bench who refused the remand application. This magistrate deserves a pat on her (or his) back.

People are so easily worked up

I don’t know what the tweet was all about, but I am concerned that some people are so easily worked up that they invoke “insulting Islam” as an offence when I don’t think they even know what it means.

If it’s blasphemy, then at least we know what we are talking about. The Quran, for example, talks about offences committed by those who wage war against Allah (i.e. Islam), those who try to make mischief in the land and so forth — which is all very clear.

There are a variety of speeches and actions that can constitute blasphemy in Islam, for example insulting Allah or His messenger the Holy Prophet Muhammad. But I don’t think one should equate a PAS leader - or even a mufti - with Allah or the Prophet.

If I wanted to say something rude about Abdul Hadi Awang or Nasrudin Hassan Tantawi, it’s not blasphemy. Some people might be so high on Islam’s list of spiritual persons that we should probably not make fun of them out of personal respect, but no one is equal to Allah. Insulting them should not attract a criminal charge.

Muslims should not set their political leaders on pedestals so high that they cannot be criticised or made the subject of rude comments. They should not jump straightaway to the conclusion that, because some of their leaders who wear turban were ridiculed, Islam has been insulted.

If they persist with this, then they will have more people making fun of these leaders because, when you are in politics, you are not protected from insults, even when you die.

The police should not be subjected to pressure from that segment of the population who are always looking for any excuse to demand the arrest of this person or that, and who are uneasy when someone expresses an opinion they disapprove of. Islam needs no defender of that kind.

Besides, Sidek Kamiso did not do what Thomas Aikenhead did in 1697. The 20-year-old Aikenhead, a Scotsman, was beheaded for blasphemy because he had publicly denied the Old Testament and the miracles of Jesus. Today, he would not have violated any law in Scotland, but unfortunately for Aikenhead, he was 400 years ahead of his time.

Sidek is definitely not on that scale of blasphemy. He probably expressed surprise that even holy men would need Stanford University to treat them; or something like that.

Sidek Kamiso must be given a fair hearing, on a proper charge under the law. His case should not be clouded by the rage and anger of those PAS supporters; and the police, too, should always conduct themselves with restraint and professionally at all times.

ZAID IBRAHIM is a former minister, in charge of law. This piece was originally published in his blog.