Malaysia, a police state in the making?
By Ronnie Klassen
My dear fellow Malaysians and Sabahans, I’m writing this latest posting with an extremely heavy heart. This is because our beloved country is fast becoming a police state, if not one yet.
Before I present you with the evidence to substantiate my claim, let me give you the definition of a police state.
According to Wikipedia, the term police state describes a state in which the government exercises rigid and repressive controls over the social, economic and political life of the population. A police state typically exhibits elements of totalitarianism and social control, and there is usually little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the executive.
The inhabitants of a police state experience restrictions on their mobility, and on their freedom to express or communicate political or other views, which are subject to police monitoring or enforcement. Political control may be exerted by means of a secret police force which operates outside the boundaries normally imposed by a constitutional state.
Now, here’s the evidence of my claim. One month ago, on 3 August,army personnel's from the 7 RAMD (Gerak Khas) swooped on Pulau Pandanan Kecil, off Semporna and ordered the villagers there to take down all the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) flags hoisted at their houses. When the villagers declined to comply, the army personnel's brought the flags down for them.
When confronted by a disgruntled villager on who ordered them to do so, the army personnel replied that it was an instruction from their ‘boss’, without giving any name. But, I guess one does not have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out who the ‘boss’ is..
Outraged by the incident, one of the villagers later lodged a police report at the Semporna district police station. The outrageous episode was videoed and photographed by a courageous villager and sent to me.(click here to watch the video part 1) (click here to watch the video part 2)
The said incident was a clear sign of immense fear of the present regime toward the opposition’s presence, and a desperate attempt to eliminate such fear or threat by suppressing the general masses’ show of support for the opposition.
It’s ashamed that the present regime has mobilized and abused all the public-funded institutions in this country whose fundamental roles and responsibilities are to safeguard the nation and the people’s interest, to maintain their current positions, so that they can continue to siphon the wealth of this country to enrich themselves and their cronies.
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