KJ: Police report lodged against Sarawak DAP chief

Umno Youth today lodged a police report against Sarawak DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen over his statement that the escalating crime rate in the country is deliberately being allowed in order to justify the re-introduction of preventive detention laws.

The movement's chief Khairy Jamaluddin (left) said in a statement today that Chong's statement was a "serious form of sedition" and that the report was lodged at the Indera Mahkota police station in Pahang.

Khairy said that Chong’s statement, which was frontpaged in the The Borneo Post daily today,  exposes the "quality of thinking" of opposition leaders.

"The allegation is clearly a serious form of sedition and is meant to influence the rakyat into hating BN, which was a legitimately-elected government in the last election.

"The statement also exposes (Chong's) shallow and childish thinking in order to promote hate politics which has been pracitised by the opposition, especially DAP all this while," he further added.

He said that he hoped the police could take"stern and fair" action against Chong for his words.

Chong: Investigations meant to divert attention

Meanwhile, Chong stood by his statement that the BN government is deliberately allowing crime in the country to increase to justify the reintroduction of the Emergency Ordinance (EO).

"This is a reasonable suspicion about why there is a certain increase in the crime rate and also the way police (seem to be) taking it very easy," he told Malaysiakini.

While he is ready to be investigated by the police, Chong stated that the investigation against him is aimed at diverting the people’s attention on the crime issue.

"This is the typical way BN handles things. When there is a problem, they will not solve it. Instead, they will take action against those who raised it to sidetrack the issue."