‘If the authorities were so worried about her safety, couldn't they have provided her with some police protection?'

On Syed Hamid: Journalist to be blamed too

Lemon: No wonder funds are moving out of Malaysia and investors are shying away.

Only in Malaysia, you can arrest someone to protect him, wasn't that the minister's justification for the arrest of Tan Hoon Cheng? And why under ISA? If the authorities were so worried about her safety, couldn't they have provided her with some police protection?

Many are finding this lame excuse hard to swallow. Again, our system of justice and rule of law is made a laughing stock.

Densemy: Malaysian politicians have plunged to the depths of absurdity in their panic stricken efforts to try and salvage some respect for their disastrous reign in power.

But this has got to be the ultimate act of absurdity, the sort of absurdity that could only be acceptable to a man whose ego is bigger than his brain.

Syed Hamid, to extend your thinking to the ultimate absurdity, I suppose you will blame the journalists for the death toll resulting from the 2004 tsunami and the cowardly attack on the World Trade Centre - by reporting the two events.

Arresting a journalist on the basis of such a concept is criminally insane.

The Healer: There is a clear purpose why the series of arrests were made:

Besides the human motive, the government has now showed its true colours of injustice. The rational behind the arrests truly contradict each other.

Let us start with the young journalist. Tan Hoon Cheng was arrested on grounds that she was the culprit behind the whole civic uproar and instability, when the offending message was from another person, Ahmad Ismail.

Why then is not Khir Toyo being detained under ISA based on the same reasoning? He reported Teresa Kok's alleged petition to tone down the mosque's loudspeakers during azan, and it was published on his blog. Was it Teresa or Khir who initiated unrest if Tan Hoon Cheng was blamed as the culprit?

Then there is Syed Hamid Albar's reasoning why Ahmad was not detained: he was already punished (grossly lenient compared to the ISA) and that there is a police report against him for sedition. Compare that to RPK's reason for arrest. It does not make sense.

RPK has already been charged for sedition and criminal defamation. Why then is RPK being detained under ISA when he has these charges upon him? Should not he and Teresa deserve the right to defend themselves just as Ahmad did?

The Barisan government is hardened. They no longer heed the warning of the people to repent. Again, the message is clear: repent or be overthrown. Long have the oppressed suffered and been robbed of their lives.

I do not enjoy seeing BN destroyed, I desire them to change. But we cannot force them, they have to respond accordingly. Should the BN government continue with its selfish ways, the outcome is clear. Thus, dear PM and fellow BN members, please make wise choices, the warning is there, do not ignore it, lest you perish.

Tim Finian: Apparently, the Home Ministry's portfolio comes with an additional hidden academic criteria - a PhD in mindless gibberish which the man so proudly displays in his press conferences.

It's simply tragic that we have to employ persons with a psychological make‑up of a common thug to run this once‑hallowed ministry.

If this isn't indicative of the serious state of affairs in the country, I don't know what is.

Joe: It is ridiculous to note that when one journalist wrote about a politician, the politician was suspended and the journalist was detained under ISA, on the grounds that she started the whole thing.

On the other hand, another journalist wrote about another politician, and the politician is detained under ISA and nothing is done to the journalist who started the whole thing. This is a very obvious case of double standards.

The minister can say the police are in charge in the whole matter, but we all know from where ISA orders come from. When is the Home Ministry or PM going to order an ISA detention on the Utusan Malaysia journalist who had written an article which is seditious, and obviously false (as it was not supported by the officials of the mosque concerned).

In that case, who had stoked racial tension, Teresa Kok or Utusan Malaysia ?

Peter Ooi: As usual, Syed Hamid Albar gave some absurd excuses for detaining Tan Hoon Cheng.

Syed Hamid, I think you are not fit to be a minister. How can you blame Tan for a truthful report? As a Muslim, you should know that it is sinful to tell lies. Similarly Tan too felt the same way.

When Ahmad Ismail issued threat after threat at a press conference, it was not deemed to be inflammatory. He was only handed down a three-year suspension from Umno.

When you said that the police are still investigating the allegations against Ahmad, it merely showed your incompetence in your job. What is there to investigate? He made the racial slurs and is unrepentant.

There is ample evidence to warrant his arrest and yet he is allowed to go about his daily life without any grief from the authorities. If anyone who should be detained under ISA, it should be Ahmad.

Simon Yip: The statement made by the minister is really preposterous and silly and shows the kind of political immaturity of our government.

Take the analogy of a journalist reporting a murder. Instead of going after the criminal, the authorities go after the journalist, since the minister said, "That information is from her and it was published. (Since) it has been published, it is best that we get to the bottom of it by getting the information from her". In the case of a murder, the journalist is arrested.

I think this is feudalistic thinking and talking. So, we leave the criminal free to roam the streets and even conduct a road show, if he so wishes. The minister's explanation that the party has disciplined Ahmad is another flawed logic. So, if the murderer's family reprimands him, all is well?

Such logic is downright disgusting and insults the intelligence of us law-abiding citizens of Malaysia.