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Malaysia's opposition PKR files emergency motion to remove hardline police chief
The People's Justice Party (PKR) has filed an emergency motion in Parliament to remove Malaysia's hardline police chief for allegedly abusing the Sedition Act and cracking down on opposition voices
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he People's Justice Party (PKR) has filed an emergency motion in Parliament to remove Malaysia's hardline police chief for allegedly abusing the Sedition Act and cracking down on opposition voices.
The motion against Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar was submitted by PKR Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin to Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia, under Section 18 (1) of the parliamentary standing orders, yesterday.
"This August, the House must debate the conduct of the IGP and decide on sacking him for three reasons:
"An abuse of Sedition Act, arrests against civilians taking part in peaceful assemblies and a crackdown through the use of Twitter," Sim was quoted as saying by the Malay Mail Online website.
Thirty-six MPs, university lecturers, students and social activists have been charged, arrested or interrogated by the police using the Sedition Act, Sim said in the motion.
Pandikar would decide by today or next week if the motion would be allowed to be debated.
Khalid, an active Twitter user, has been aggressively policing the internet, often using the social network to order probes on individuals or groups under the Sedition Act. Critics have condemned the move as a clampdown on dissent.
On March 16, lawmaker Nurul Izzah Anwar, daughter of PKR's de facto leader, Anwar Ibrahim, was arrested for sedition over a speech made in Parliament, where she has immunity from prosecution.
In that speech, she slammed the judiciary for jailing her father for sodomy, a conviction she had called a "gross miscarriage of justice".
In a statement after her arrest, Khalid said Nurul Izzah, vice-president of PKR, was detained to assist police in their investigation of an opposition rally, and also for making "contemptuous remarks that those in the judiciary system had sold their souls to the devil", The Guardian reported.
Organisers of the March 7 rally held to protest against Anwar's jailing, and attended by thousands, were also arrested, leading opposition stalwart Lim Kit Siang to accuse the police chief of "declaring war" on the opposition.
Defending himself against allegations that police target only opposition leaders who post allegedly seditious content on the social network, Khalid placed the blame on the opposition.
"The problem is that only that group is causing trouble. That's why it looks as though I only take action against them," The Star quoted him as saying.
Khalid is also nonchalant to calls for a campaign to close his Twitter account, which is followed by nearly 36,000 people.
"I don't have a problem. If my Twitter (account) is closed, there are many ways we can monitor," he said.
"There are 126,000 personnel in the police force. If the others (police personnel) open Twitter accounts, we can monitor," he said yesterday. (***)
