Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has vowed to defend members of the Penang Voluntary Patrol Squad (PPS) from any police action for simply being associated with the body.
"The Penang state government will provide lawyers and legal funding to defend any PPS member who is wrongly arrested by police, not for any criminal wrongdoing, but merely for being a good Samaritan and helping the public.
"This follows the bullying threats by Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar who said that police will arrest members of the PPS if they continued their activities," said Lim in a statement this afternoon.
Khalid had reportedly said yesterday that PPS had strayed from its objective of public safety and assaulted members of the public with at least two police reports against the body.
He also declared PPS to be illegal as it was not registered with the Registrar of Societies (ROS).
However, Lim called Khalid a "liar", insisting that PPS had and still is focussed on public safety.
If there are any criminal incidents involving PPS that are wrong, the Penang state government will co-operate fully with the police in taking stern action, he added.
Penang state exco member Phee Boon Poh is personally in charge and has taken full responsibility to ensure that PPS members found to have committed wrongdoings are punished,he said.
Lim also said that PPS was set up by the state government four years ago and its legality had never been questioned until now with local police even cooperating with the body.
'Is police force punished for bad apples?'
He said PPS was no different than the local development and safety village committees (JKKK) which are also not ROS registered.
Lim said an isolated assault case should not cause the entire PPS to be penalised.
"Why should the nearly 10,000 members in PPS be punished for the wrongful acts of one member?
"If that is the case, can the IGP answer whether the entire 120,000 police force should be punished just because of the criminal acts of several policemen committing crime, beating up people, even causing death whether in lock-ups or during interrogations?" he said.
Lim said the PPS is to encourage citizens to take part in community policing and reiterated that the state government was prepared to go to court to defend this.
"Let the whole world see the Malaysian police arrest, not criminals, but PPS members for being good Samaritans by helping people.
"Similarly the Penang state government guarantees that it will act sternly to punish any PPS member committing criminal wrongdoings," he said.
Earlier this month, vocal critic of the state government accused a PPS member of assaulting him.
Subsequently, Parti Cinta Malaysia vice president Huan Cheng Guan accused PPS of being misused by the DAP-led state government for party work.
"The Penang state government will provide lawyers and legal funding to defend any PPS member who is wrongly arrested by police, not for any criminal wrongdoing, but merely for being a good Samaritan and helping the public.
"This follows the bullying threats by Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar who said that police will arrest members of the PPS if they continued their activities," said Lim in a statement this afternoon.
Khalid had reportedly said yesterday that PPS had strayed from its objective of public safety and assaulted members of the public with at least two police reports against the body.He also declared PPS to be illegal as it was not registered with the Registrar of Societies (ROS).
However, Lim called Khalid a "liar", insisting that PPS had and still is focussed on public safety.
If there are any criminal incidents involving PPS that are wrong, the Penang state government will co-operate fully with the police in taking stern action, he added.
Penang state exco member Phee Boon Poh is personally in charge and has taken full responsibility to ensure that PPS members found to have committed wrongdoings are punished,he said.
Lim also said that PPS was set up by the state government four years ago and its legality had never been questioned until now with local police even cooperating with the body.
'Is police force punished for bad apples?'
He said PPS was no different than the local development and safety village committees (JKKK) which are also not ROS registered.
Lim said an isolated assault case should not cause the entire PPS to be penalised.
"Why should the nearly 10,000 members in PPS be punished for the wrongful acts of one member?
"If that is the case, can the IGP answer whether the entire 120,000 police force should be punished just because of the criminal acts of several policemen committing crime, beating up people, even causing death whether in lock-ups or during interrogations?" he said.
Lim said the PPS is to encourage citizens to take part in community policing and reiterated that the state government was prepared to go to court to defend this.
"Let the whole world see the Malaysian police arrest, not criminals, but PPS members for being good Samaritans by helping people.
"Similarly the Penang state government guarantees that it will act sternly to punish any PPS member committing criminal wrongdoings," he said.
Earlier this month, vocal critic of the state government accused a PPS member of assaulting him.
Subsequently, Parti Cinta Malaysia vice president Huan Cheng Guan accused PPS of being misused by the DAP-led state government for party work.
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