YOURSAY 'Professionalism, which was once the hallmark of the police force, has been replaced with ‘yesmanship' and fear.'
PDRM - the armed division of Umno
Pakman: Thank you, former Navy commander S Thayaparan for your pieces on Bersih 3.0. You are an ex-government officer who is willing to air your honest views to right what is wrong in the current regime.
But unfortunately, we have ex-IGP (inspector-general of police) who is out of this world, trying to smear the good name of Bersih.
Even communist countries allowed certain leeway for their dissidents to voice their feelings through peaceful rallies.
Abasir: This I know from first-hand experience: the standard of training accorded to the boys in blue has plummeted to meaningless levels, while the systematic and purposeful inculcation of hatred has sky-rocketed.
Just as the Israeli regime has put in place the practice of demonising Palestinians to ensure the ruthlessness of the IDF (Israeli Defence Force) violence against them, this regime has done the same with elements from BTN (Biro Tatanegara) leading the way.
The quality of management has also suffered with the promotion of politically correct but grossly incompetent officers. Professionalism which was once the hallmark of the force has been replaced with ‘yesmanship' and fear.
I can also roughly say when the rot started and when the seeds of destruction of a hitherto fine force were first sown. It coincided with the political ascension of that serum-injected aberration who was allowed to rule the roost for 22 long years.
Ksn: Excellent views, Abasir. The same rot and decay has penetrated all the other public institutions like the judiciary, the civil services including the GLCs (government-linked companies), the MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency), the Attorney-General's Chambers and all other institutions funded by taxpayers.
No one will dispute your view as to who started the destruction, unforgivable and unforgettable as they are as the damage done is deep and widespread.
My question is: will our people allow the country to perish from his contributions or save it? Time will tell, the sooner the better.
Avatar 111: This article by Thayaparan resonates well with the pulse of the rest of Malaysians.
Umno had turned itself into a regime, and in the process has hijacked the police, the judiciary and the whole of civil service in the country.
Gobsmacked!: Thayaparan, I agree with what you have written. It is certainly very perceptive and true - borne out by many years as a Navy man and as an observant citizen.
The fact that the police officers were still shooting tear-gas canisters and water cannon at the protesters even though they have all cleared the area near the restricted zone and some even went far from the restricted area to shoot tear-gas canisters show that they were out to punish the protesters for daring to come out to attend the rally.
The police were just waiting for the moment when they could take action to hurt or scare the people. And when the breach of the barricades occurred, that was their moment.
And the home minister was all too quick to say that the police acted professionally. Any objective person would consider such actions far from professional.
Our police force have to undergo a spell of rehabilitation to cleanse itself of the Umno doctrine. Let us Malaysians continue to be courageous and run the gauntlet.
Loo Soon Fatt: Why blame opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and Azmin Ali for instigating the breaching of the police barrier and hijacked the Bersih cause.
Aren't parties of Pakatan Rakyat were among the coalition of Bersih and working together to demand clean and fair elections? Why can't their leaders address their own supporters who are also Bersih supporters.
The worst was why the police continued to corner and attack the protesters until 7pm when most of them had already dispersed.
Onyourtoes: Can't you see that barricade has become the symbol of everything that has gone wrong in this country?
The government has allowed protestors to march everywhere in Kuala Lumpur, except that piece of square which was forbidden and must be protected at all cost. Why?
Is this not the intransigence and arrogance of power portrayed for all to see? Can't you see it is precisely that square that the protestors must enter to reclaim the freedom that was taken away from us for years?
I still believe if there was no barricade, if protestors were allowed to enter into the square, sat for an hour or so, nothing untoward would have happened.
I think this baloney will never end, for this is how a renegade regime plays its game. When we asked for Stadium Merdeka, they gave us one Timbuktu stadium. When we asked for Dataran, they gave us Stadium Merdeka.
The next time we just ask for Putrajaya, it is more straight forward and simple.
Sodom Me Sodom You: Dataran is not the property of Umno and they have no business using razor wires to keep citizens out.
I wonder why the police thugs let the protesters (provocateurs or otherwise) open the barrier when there were thousands of armed police forming a human wall everywhere else.
I could (vaguely) understand action against those who did breach the barrier but why did they go on a witch-hunt to round up civilians hours after the march was over, even those in restaurants. And why the racist remarks from the forces?
The answer is to not let the rally be peaceful. They (BN and PDRM) were disappointed to see that Malaysians came and were preparing to leave without trouble. So the solution is to manufacture trouble.
If there is blame to be assigned for the 'breach' of what is actually our right in the first place, then let all the Malaysians who went out to march that day carry this blame - all 250,000 of us.
We want to take back what is ours. Who the hell is BN to deny us our right?
Anonymous_3e21: Excellent piece, commander. In the end, the whole world watches in horror of the way our police force handled the crowd that day.
Despite the PM and gang are saying good things about the police, the many pictures and videos have proven otherwise.
The April 28 rally is now well-documented and will become history, and will be seen by the kids of the protestors as well as the police too.
What would they think then? Are we not ashamed of what happened on that day? Who will benefit the most? The police? Highly unlikely.
So, let us be wise and not get ourselves manipulated continuously by those who live on our sufferings.
History has shown that no government last forever and no matter how determined they are to use force, they will not succeed, not when you see so many equally determined young and old gather to voice their frustration.
Malaysiawatch4: This is a very good article. If one believes in conspiracy theories, the barricade was the bait protected by a court order and for all we know, the home minister could have ordered the attack if the crowds breached the barrier.
And anyone could have done that to start the chaos; even the PDRM itself, as it had a point to prove to the protesters.
After all, the government chickened out over IPCMC (Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission) and that really eroded its credibility.
Shanandoah: Well said and very well written, commander, though you are retired now. How we wish we had more people like you in our present armed forces and the police.
Perhaps Malaysians can only dream of what we had lost for having had Umno govern this country over the last 50 years.
May God give you the courage and wisdom to expose all the evils we have to put up with this corrupt government that is fast losing its credibility among all Malaysians.
Telestai!: This is a well-written article that sums up the situation aptly. No doubt Bersih was supported by the opposition but couldn't BN support Bersih as well or are they guilty of cheating in the past 12 elections?
Despite the fact the some protestors may have gotten carried away (I suspect it is the work of agent provocateurs), there is no need to use force to beat up protestors.
The years of systematic manipulation of all things important to the country has left Malaysia a battered nation, torn and divided.
HangTuah: Commander, I am of your generation and I too served in the armed forces going on patrols in the steaming jungles of Malaysia to weed out communist insurgents.
For all our loyalty, we have been reduced to being classified as ‘pendatangs' simply because we do not belong to a particular race or profess a certain faith.
Post-69 saw the coming into being of the NEP (to which I subscribed to in all good faith) - the skewed implementation of which policy saw the seeding of discrimination, racism, religious bigotry, obscene corruption and even ethnic marginalisation.
We became in effect an apartheid state. I was disheartened to hear about the BTN, a brainwashing machine which stomped on religious and racial sensitivities.
Unless there is a radical change in the mindset of the powers-that-be, it is simply impossible to be optimistic for the future of this wonderful land. My heart truly bleeds over what is going on.
Cannon: The hegemony of Umno is propped up by goons, guns and gold.
A friend of mine attended Bersih 3.0. He sent me this SMS message: "Went for Bersih. Witnessed the brutality of the police against the rakyat. Kena stinging tear gas. My reward for paying taxes."
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