Lockdown or lockout…it’s which side of the mirror you are standing
We had a date on 1st August 2009. Did you turn up?
The STAR's headlined "Lockdown in the city" whilst Berita Harian says "Perhimpunan haram menyusahkan rakyat".
A blogger posted "Kebebasan memerlukan keikhlasan dan tanggungjawab" whilst another says "Unit amal PAS – my heroes". It boils down to what you believe in and that's the way a healthy democracy should be…
However, before we proceed any further on the issue, allow me to say one thing – What can you say on the standards of our police when :-
- The police has blocked off the roads leading to Istana Negara;
- The police has their uniformed personnel, SBs', ununiformed personnel, federal reserve units manning all the major intersections surrounding Sogo, Central market, Dataran Merdeka, Istana Negara, Masjid Negara;
- The police has installed surveillance cameras on top of KTMB building across Masjid Negara;
- The police has few units of helicopters hovering above the crowd;
- The police has access to all these roads with their super bikes, patrol cars, trucks etc
With all that under their disposal, the police cannot stop one motorcyclist from grabbing Minaq Jinggo's RM 18,000 camera. They are super-efficient in hauling up 600 "trouble makers", spray chemical-laced water from their water cannons, fired volleys of tear gas into the crowd but unable to stop one motor cyclist from breaking their ranks to snatch Minaq Jinggo's camera. Tell me, what is wrong with our super and over-efficient police on 1st August 2009?
Now, back to our posting. These are the observations whilst making my rounds on 1st August 2009 :-
