Food For Thought For The Home Minister

ARCHIVES 2010

By admin-s On Mar 19, 2010

By Veteran Cork Fighter

The recent statement by the Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein that the Police Force is undergoing a transition that would rekindle a “new chapter” in the Force is not only perplexing but amusing (The Sun – 16 March 2010). Little does the Minister realized that this month, 25th of March 2010, the Royal Malaysia Police is 203 years of age. Ever since then, many police officers has come and go, including the IGPs, after having served the nation faithfully and devoted their lives in the defence of the country with unflinching support and dedication to both the Government and the ruling party. There is nothing sinister about police officers retiring once they reach their compulsory age of retirement except when their services are extended on a contractual basis.

Ever since those years the Royal Malaysia Police is one and the only Government agency that has contributed and sacrificed significantly in the defence of the country be it against the communist insurgence, Indonesian confrontation, terrorists, wars and needless to mention high profile crimes. Members of the Royal Police Force has given their selfless and dedicated devotion in the defence of the country both from within and without and in so doing has not only sacrificed their lives but also limbs, leaving behind wives who lost their husbands and children, their fathers. Now that the country has redeemed its peace and tranquillity, the sacrifices made by the Force are wilfully neglected and their esteems humiliated.

Of course the Home Minister can put all these sacrifices in the back seat, as whilst the Police were fiercely fighting the communist terrorists in defence of the country’s sovereignty, the Home Minister was either not born into this world yet or he was away too long from the country in London reading law (beside wine, women and song) to really appreciate those sacrifices. The Home Minister should emulate his late father’s role model (the late Tun Hussein Onn) who had himself fought the Japanese resistance group (Force 136) and operated from behind enemy lines that when he became Minister of Home Affairs then he was able to really appreciate the sacrifices made by members of the Police Force. Having himself gone through a military training, the late Tun Hussein Onn could empathize the hardship and challenges faced by a soldier. A police officer is a law enforcer by training, but a soldier by profession, and willing and ever ready to be called on duty be it during peace time or war as proven by its golden track record. It has lived up to its immortal motto of “Bersedia Berkhidmat” since time immemorial.

To say that the Home Minister can appreciate and understand the rigours and discipline of a uniform body in defence of the country and the ruling party, is an overstatement as he was born with a golden spoon to an aristocrat and noble family of Johor. If you are noble by birth, yet you should be nobler by great deeds. Only fools are unable to support that crushing load which we call gratitude. To say at this juncture that the Police Force needs a “new chapter” is an affront to those who had sacrificed their lives and limbs for the country and analogous to the English saying “Teaching your grandmother to suck eggs” and the Malay proverb “Madu dihisap sepah dibuang”. The sufferings that police veterans and their dependents endured all these years cannot be just forgotten or ignored overnight. Their sufferings will be translated into ballot papers in the coming general election that could spell a “New Chapter” for the BN Government. Lord Chesterfield in a letter to his son once wrote “never seem wiser, nor more learned, then the people you are with”.