'His apology is not enough. He must take the rap for the utterly despicable act by the government in greatly inconveniencing the rakyat for absolutely no reason at all.’

On Road-blocking BN's popularity

Shriram Venugopal: Syed Hamid's apology, though an admission that it was his fault, is not enough.

As a minister, he must take the rap for this utterly despicable act by the government and the police in greatly inconveniencing the rakyat for absolutely no reason at all.

I wonder whether the real reason behind the huge mobilisation of the police was to launch a coup de'tat if the PM actually lost the no-confidence motion.

In any respectable democracy, heads would roll for this despicable act (the roadblocks) which to some people amounts to criminal negligence.

I have heard stories of people having to wait for busses or being stuck in jams for hours, resulting in them being very late for work and school, even to the extent of missing (and therefore failing) interviews and examinations.

What is going to happen to all those poor souls who were late or missed the CLP at Universiti Malaya yesterday?

Syed Hamid, resign now. It is the only respectable thing to do if you have any sense of decency left.

Tyson: How much damage would a few hundred, or even a few thousand, people demonstrating outside parliament have caused?

Compare that to the damage done by the roadblocks all around KL on Monday - ambulances couldn't get to patients or get patients to hospitals quickly.

The sick couldn't get to clinics for treatment and doctors couldn't get to clinics to treat the sick.

Patients who had waited weeks for an appointment in a government hospital couldn't get to the hospital and will now have to wait a even more weeks for another appointment.

Operating staff couldn't get to hospitals on time, resulting in operations being postponed and lengthening the already overly-long surgical waiting lists in government hospitals.

Did anyone die due to these delays? I pray not.

Were the road blocks really worth all this trouble?

Angry Rakyat: What in the world is happening in our country? Road blocks on Monday morning, when millions of rakyat rush to their working places.

What are the police thinking? Maybe they don’t need to go work on time, not like normal citizens.

I was late by almost one hour to work, and my friends too. Some of them got slammed by our managers for being late. Is the government going to answer for us?

The government says it's for the safety of the people. Can I ask you one thing? Who's getting hurt now? Are people going to throw stones or glasses at each other?

The act of preventing one person from going to Parliament has caused millions of people to be outraged and angry towards the government.

I'm sure now BN will never win again in the next election because you just dug your own grave.

MBN: Nowadays everyone is experiencing crimes in various degrees. The most common are housebreaking and snatch thefts.

I wonder what percentage of these crimes have been solved by the police.

I tell you, it’s a disgrace to our police force. In my taman alone, every person I know is aware of someone whose house has been burgled, or someone whose chain has been snatched by motorbike riders.

What about those who get injured as well? Something is seriously wrong with the criminal investigation section of the police force. Please buck up.

Raj: Our Malaysian police have repeatedly proven they are not interested in the concerns of the people.

Their arrogance has become unbearable and it’s time for us to show them we are not here to be treated like criminals.

I suggest to all road users that the next time we come across such roadblocks, just stop our cars and put them in ‘park mode’ right there. Imagine, the whole stretch would have thousands of cars.

It may cause a grand stall of cars in KL but this is what police wanted. I'm sick and tired of the police’s action.

Like someone else said, why can't they use their resources to prevent rape, murder, kidnap and many other criminal activities?

Menon Velauthan PK: I suggest when there are road blocks ,we should save petrol by just parking our cars, switching off the engines, and leaving our cars there.

Very Concerned: I have lost totally, any confidence in our police force. I don't think the police can be trusted. Who can we turn to for help?

On 'Opposition did plan demo today'

Kevin P: Syed Hamid, stop playing games. Name the blogs concerned and do not come and tell us its one of those insignificant comments made by some anonymous post in an obscure blog.

Seriously you cannot be just taking two blogs and two SMSes as a yardstick to cause such havoc.

You apologise to the city folk but still point your sore finger at the opposition. That is not sincere.

If you have bungled admit that you have bungled to the people. After all, your credibility is at stake here.

Mooshie Mooshie: So, Minister Syed Albar, the information you have received on the demonstration is something like ‘you believe it is true, it sounds true and it looks true’ - but it is not true.

When is the government ever going to stop their lies at the expense of the rakyat ?

Because every time they lie and believe in their lies the rakyat suffers, like the recent massive road block.

And just to recap, before the 12th GE in March.- Abdullah Ahmad Badawi asked ‘Who is Anwar- he is irrelevant’.

Why is he so feared now by the government until a court order tois sought to prevent from coming to within five kilometres of the Parliament building?

Police Watch: I read with amusement the statement made by the Speaker Pandikar Amin, that the IGP cannot be referred to the rights and privileges committee for creating an inconvenience to the residents of Kuala Lumpur through the roadblocks.

This, unfortunately, reflects the lack of integrity of Parliament and the failure of the present government to take actions to prevent a recurrence.

When everyone else is fuming over the traffic jams caused by the police, Pandikar Amin was happily giving his blessing about the way the traffic was being managed.

This brings us back to one incident when a particular traffic chief decided pull out traffic policemen from the roads for one day because of an offence by certain parties.

As a result of his action, traffic in the whole city came to a standstill.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad was then prime minister and no action was taken to discipline the traffic chief.

The present Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has on many occasions promised the setting up of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission. (IPCMC).

We would like to see the two incidents mentioned above referred to the IPCMC, or while the commission is being established, the cases should at least be taken up in Parliament.

Otherwise, where is the justice, Tan Sri Speaker?

On DAP trio: Meeting... what meeting?

Peter Ooi: Here we go again. A minister who did not check his facts before issuing a statement.

The prime minister has been telling the rakyat not to believe in SMSes and here we have a minister who did exactly that.

These SMSes must have influenced the minister to order the massive roadblocks in the capital.

How irresponsible an act it was. Thousands were caught in the traffic jams and many of them were late for their appointments.

Was the threat from those few would-be demonstrators (if it was true) so serious that the whole capital must come to a standstill just to prevent it?

I believe not. My impression is that the authority was trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.

If only the authority permitted the demonstrators to vent their anger by shouting slogans and waving banners, I believe it would be a peaceful one.