PKR-DAP used to call PDRM ‘Anjing Kerajaan’
So why all this brouhaha today? Anwar Ibrahim, Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, Lim Guan Eng, and all those PKR and DAP leaders who for 40 years have accused the Malaysian police of serving the political party in power (mainly Umno and Barisan Nasional), and of reporting to the political masters, today are pretending they are outraged and perturbed with Abdul Hamid Bador’s ‘revelation’.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
PKR and DAP cannot seem to make up their minds whether the Royal Malaysian Police Force (PDRM) is ‘Anjing Kerajaan’ or not.
Back in 1998, when Anwar Ibrahim was first arrested and the Reformasi movement was born, PKR and DAP called PDRM ‘Anjing Kerajaan’. They accused the IGP and the police force of being the tool of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Umno, to be used to silence the opposition.
Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders, and various other international and local NGOs such as Aliran, Suaram, Hakam, Just World, etc., alleged that Bukit Aman was being used to prop up a draconian government that perpetuated Mahathir’s ‘Reign of Terror’.
In fact, said the international reports, this ‘Reign of Terror’ started when Dr Mahathir launched his Operasi Lalang in 1987 to get rid of those who were attempting to oust him from power — both within Umno (mainly ‘Team B’) as well as the opposition.
Those anti-Mahathir Reformasi movement activists who were detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in September 1998 and in April 2001 all tell the story about how the Special Branch officers tried to ‘turn them over’. Basically, their detention was to make them abandon the opposition and support the government.
I was one of those anti-Mahathir Reformasi movement activists who were detained under the ISA — in fact, twice (in 2001 and 2008).
Yes, since 1987, all through till today, Bukit Aman and the Special Branch was the personal army of the Prime Minister and the government-of-the-day. And we are not even including the Memali massacre before that in 1985 when the police were used to kill a number of PAS supporters so that the non-Malays will be frightened into supporting the government.
Dr Mahathir used the police as his private army
In fact, Bukit Aman does not even try to hide this or deny the fact that it serves the government-of-the-day. This is made very clear to the ISA detainees (Saari Sungib even wrote a series of books on this matter) during the ‘turning over’ exercise. PDRM or Bukit Aman serves the government and works for the Prime Minister, ISA detainees are told.
So why all this brouhaha today? Anwar Ibrahim, Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, Lim Guan Eng, and all those PKR and DAP leaders who for 40 years have accused the Malaysian police of serving the political party in power (mainly Umno and Barisan Nasional), and of reporting to the political masters, today are pretending they are outraged and perturbed with Abdul Hamid Bador’s ‘revelation’.
Why all this drama and wayang? Were they not the same people who used to call the police ‘Anjing Kerajaan’? So, what’s new? And now they want this matter to be investigated. Is Pakatan Harapan that bankrupt of issues?
Pakatan Harapan was in power for 22 months. Why did they not investigate the matter then? Did Tun Dr Mahathir not personally pull Hamid Bador back from retirement and make him the IGP? Was that not an abuse of power? And wasn’t the purpose so that Mahathir could control the police force?
