Can you think of other ways to spend RM89K?

By Masterwordsmith

Did you know that a total of 973 tear gas canisters costing RM89,000 were used to disperse the anti-Internal Security Act (ISA) illegal demonstrations on August 1st this year? Are you surprised that such a large sum of money was used on innocent people who were expressing their sentiments about an archaic law?

The Malaysian Insider at THIS LINK reported:

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Tun Hussein said 663 policemen were deployed during the demonstrations while 442 were on standby at various locations around Kuala Lumpur.

He said 182 Federal Reserve Unit members were also tasked with dispersing the demonstrators, while 22 traffic police officers and members were assigned to control the traffic flow at the locations identified.

“There were also 187 members of uniformed bodies on duty because of the demonstrations on that day,” he said in his written reply to Teo Nie Ching (DAP-Serdang) in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Teo wanted to know the number of tear gas canisters fired during the anti-ISA demontrations and the cost incurred by the government, and the strength of the security forces and enforcement bodies involved in handling the demonstrations.

Let’s do a bit of simple mathematics:

663 policemen were deployed
442 policemen on standby
182 FRU personnel were on duty
22 traffic police officers were on duty
187 members of uniformed bodies

TOTAL: 1496 persons were deployed to the scene.

Read more at: CAN YOU THINK OF OTHER WAYS TO SPEND RM89K?