D5, is the new task force setup to haul up seditious individuals. (Pic of IGP Khalid Abu Bakar from Malaysiakini)
By Ralvin Manikam
Word of a new sedition task force set up by the police is out, called D5, indicating a possible increase in arrests related to sedition henceforth.
Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli was the first to get news of D5 as he was questioned by the police yesterday over a comment he made over social media about Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy conviction.
There has been no news from the government or the police of the setting up of the sedition task force, but the ramp-up of sedition related arrests recently may be a sign of more arrests to come.
Opposition leaders warn of misplaced government efforts with regards to this move
When questioned by reporters yesterday, Rafizi said that the sedition dragnet had hauled up many who did not pose real a threat to national security.
In the past, no action was taken against protestors who had threatened opposition leaders with May 13, or Perkasa’s call to behead certain PAS leaders who questioned the Selangor Bible seizure last year, or UMNO’s insinuations against the Chinese community in Kedah for allegedly “burning pages of the Quran”- which was found to be entirely made up.
This misplaced priority on the part of the police, he said, would only lead to a culture of fear amongst the people.
DAP Parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang said the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar has “completely lost his sense of priorities” by setting up the world’s first police special unit on sedition, instead of focusing on the real and present danger of Islamic State (IS) amongst the youth in Malaysia.
“At a time when the IGP’s eye must be unfailingly focused on the new real crime and threat not only to Malaysia and the world – the rise of the IS with its siren appeal to Malaysian Muslims for a Muslim Caliphate stretching beyond national borders and space – Khalid’s focus is fixed in the wrong direction,” he said.
In the last week alone, the police had brought seven people into custody for making statements against Anwar Ibrahim’s guilty verdict, which was recently upheld by the Federal Court.
These seven include Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (PKR Youth chief ), Rafizi Ramli (Pandan MP), S. Arutchelvan (PSM President), Adam Adli (student activist), Fariz Musa (PKR Jingga 13 movement leader), Nga Kor Ming (Taiping MP), and Laurence Jeyaraj (activist).
Lim said that with the establishing of D5, it indicates that speech crime offenders would be dealt with swiftly, as Khalid tweets commands to act against Pakatan Rakyat leaders and Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) activists.
“Undoubtedly, Khalid has made a name for himself in the international fraternity of No. 1 policeman in the world, for he must be the first head of police in a country to set up a special unit on sedition, as if Malaysians have just set a new world record as the most seditious people in the world!” he added.
Sedition blitzkrieg more important than threat of IS
Lim said that the real threat to national security is IS, that stretches beyond national borders.
Around the world, propaganda from IS has reached women and men who after being influenced, decide to join their militant ranks. IS is notorious for their executions of men, women and children and those who indulge in practices counter to their version of the Islamic faith. These deviant practices include watching a football match between Iraq and Jordan; 13 teenage boys were reportedly executed by firing squad in northern Iraq for “breaking Islamic principles” by doing so.
The group also tries to lure young girls to join IS’s sex Jihad, who by joining their ranks would have to marry militants and please them sexually.
Last week, a 14-year-old Malaysian girl was nabbed at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport before attempting to fly to Cairo, where she would marry a student and head to Syria.
Pic of nabbed 14 year old girl about to join IS. Pic from The Star/ Asia News Network.
Malaysian police say that previously, they had managed to stop seven women from going to Syria since last year, but had failed to prevent seven others from leaving.
Despite the looming threat of IS, the government has proven to be more inclined to nip-in-the-bud any sentiment of disapproval of Anwar Ibrahim’s guilty verdict.
So great is the UMNO-led government’s need to force public approval of Anwar’s guilty sentence that its youth faction is working on a nationwide road show to silence critics and clear its name of any link to a conspiracy. In the “porno road show” as dubbed by some political watchers, public prosecutor Shafee Abdullah who had led the team against Anwar in the Sodomy 2 trial would be revealing Saiful’s testimony of details about the alleged foreplay that had taken place before the act of sodomy.
This constant government bashing of Anwar even after the guilty sentencing, the arrests for tweets and speeches critical of the verdict, and the subsequent setting up of D5, paints Khalid as the “IGP with the wrong obsession”, according to Lim.
“An IGP worth his salt must fight real criminals and not to turn patriotric and civic-minded Malaysians, whether PR leaders or NGO activists, into imagined enemies of the state and criminals.”
“ Malaysians want an IGP who can fight real criminals, and not one busy creating imaginary criminals,” Lim said. -The Rocket
