After PPS arrests, Najib’s Merdeka note means nothing, says DAP

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's Merdeka message of unity, confidence and prosperity has been torn to shreds with the mass-arrest order by the Inspector General of Police against Penang's voluntary patrol unit (PPS), DAP said today.

Party adviser Lim Kit Siang (pic) said that the arrest turned a day of inspiration, where Najib had broken with tradition and given a live message on Merdeka eve, to one of rampage by IGP Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar.

"Instead of being a day of inspiration and reaffirmation, it became a day of infamy for Malaysians to cry for the nation and ask what has gone wrong with nation-building in Malaysia after more than half a century," he said in a statement.

Lim said that the country's 57th Merdeka anniversary should have been remembered as a day where the country rose from the polarisation since the 2013 general election and the twin disasters involving MH370 and MH17, to forging greater unity.

"But this was not the case.

"August 31, 2014, would go down in Malaysian history as one of its ‘black letter’” days where one man, the IGP, single-handedly reduced to shambles in less than 24 hours the PM's messages on unity, confidence and prosperity.

"Something has gone very wrong with our nation when Good Samaritans ever-ready to give of their time, energy and service to help less fortunate citizens are treated as common criminals.

"There can be no doubt that what happened in Penang yesterday is no credit to Malaysia or Najib in the international arena, and the world will pass harsh judgment on Malaysia and the prime minister as a result of the PPS fiasco."

Lim warned that inaction toward the arrests would damage the country’s and the prime minister’s reputation internationally.

He said that if PPS was deemed illegal, the matter could have been taken to the courts, adding that there was no need to humiliate its members, who took part in the National Day parade by making them spend the night in police lock-ups.

"He did nothing to ensure that over a hundred patriotic and exemplary citizens who are PPS members do not spend a night in the police lock-up yesterday.

"Is he (the PM) going to continue to be silent and indifferent to the mass arrest?"

Khalid had said the operation to arrest the PPS members was due to their stubbornness and temerity to challenge the law.

Some 154 members in a PPS contingent were arrested immediately after they had completed a march past for the official state-level Merdeka Day celebrations at Padang Kota Lama in George Town yesterday.

Khalid said the arrests marked the start of the action to be taken against the organisation, where he maintained that the PPS had been made illegal by the Registrar of Societies.

- TMI