Ex-top cop warns police against tweeting too much

Inspector-general of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar’s tweeting habit has come under scrutiny. – Twitter pic, January 17, 2015.

The social media habits of certain senior police officers who publicise the force's next moves against individuals or groups facing investigation can jeopardise efforts to tackle crime, former inspector-general of police Tan Sri Musa Hassan said.

Police shouldn't be telling all and sundry about what they were going to do next but stick to their work without having to broadcast it, the former IGP said of increased use of social media platform, Twitter, by law enforcement officials.

"There is no need for police to say who they are going to arrest. Investigations and arrests need not be made public," Musa told The Malaysian Insider.

"In the past, when I wanted to arrest someone, I did not tell anyone. After the arrest was made, then only is the information made public.

"There is no need to publicise that we are going to arrest someone. If it was a criminal, he would run," Musa said.

Musa was commenting on the attitude of certain senior police officers who were fond of using social media platforms, such as Twitter, to update the public.

Current IGP Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar is one who tweets regularly about certain cases. In the case of the Sedition Act, he also uses his Twitter account to justify the need to retain the act, which rights activists have condemned as a tool for the government to silence dissent.

Khalid, who tweets using the handle @KBAB51, recently announced a police probe into human rights lawyer Eric Paulsen, who had tweeted about the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim), accusing the agency of using Friday sermons to promote extremism.

On January 9, posting a photo of Paulsen, Khalid tweeted, "Statement sebegini memang wajar kita siasat dibawah Akta Hasutan. @PDRMsia akan siasat di bawah Akta Hasutan." (Statements such as this should be probed under the Sedition Act. @PDRMsia will probe under the Sedition Act.)

@PDRMsia is the Twitter handle of the Royal Malaysian Police.

On January 12, in a string of tweets, Khalid issued reminders to people not to take Malaysia's harmony for granted, calling Paulsen "arrogant" and accusing him of thinking that he could incite Malaysians.

"@PDRMsia bagi amaran kpd mana2 org baik lelaki dan wanita yg bersekongkol dgn nya supaya lebih waras dan jgn cuba mengancam...keamanan dan kesejahteraan Malaysia," Khalid also tweeted (@PDRMsia are warning any man and woman who is in cahoots with Paulsen to be careful and don't try to threaten the peace and harmony of Malaysia.)

Previously, Khalid had also taken to Twitter to demand action against social media users who had posted abusive remarks against him.

Last year, he came in for public criticism after police rounded up the Penang Voluntary Patrol Unit (PPS) for operating illegally.

Over Twitter, Khalid instructed the Federal Commercial Crimes Investigation Department to begin investigations immediately.

As other Twitter users began criticising him on social media, Khalid tweeted, calling for police to act against them, using a word he would repeat often – "biadap", or "rude".

He tweeted: "@PDRMsia sila ambil tindakan terhadap org biadap ini yg menggelar IGP 'Anjing BN'."  (Please take action against this rude person who called the IGP BN's dog.)

Khalid also singled out another tweet in which he was compared with the Nazi commander Heinrich Himmler.

Twitter user Viktor Wong (@wonghoicheng) had tweeted: "Bastardization of @PDRMsia. Thanks to the ruthless @KBAB51 Henrich Himmler of Malaysia”.

Khalid responded: "PCIRC @PDRMsia, juga dikesan seorg lagi yg biadap ini untuk di ambil tindakan." (Another rude person has been detected for action to be taken against him.)

Asked whether police should use social media to forge closer ties with the public, Musa said police should not look at it from that point of view.

"Forging close ties means we can get information from the public. That is the meaning of closer ties.

"But there is no need to inform the public of police's actions. If that is considered closer ties, classified information will be leaked."

Musa said based on current laws, police were required to update the complainant about the status of the case and new developments.

"Police are given a month to investigate a case. After that period, the complainant will be notified.

"If there is no case, the complainant will be informed that this is a civil matter and they should seek legal recourse.”

- TMI