‘Cops must do better to prevent pre-poll violence’

Analyst says the police's job is to catch criminals, not point fingers.

PETALING JAYA: A political and social analyst has urged police to step up their game before the next general election (GE14).

Wong Chin Huat, a fellow at the Penang Institute, told FMT he agreed with jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim that there would be a spike in the type of violence that happened last Sunday at the Nothing to Hide 2 forum organised by PPBM.

He noted that there had been violence before and after previous elections, but he added that recent outbreaks were “nothing Malaysians have seen before”.

“The violence we have nowadays makes the past look like kindergarten brawls,” he said.

He criticised the police for “giving lame excuses” when it came to doing their job. “If people commit crimes and they do not get punished, then they are going to commit more crimes,” he said.

On Sunday, a news report quoted Shah Alam police chief Shafien Mamat as saying the organisers of the Nothing to Hide 2 forum would be questioned for their failure to ensure security at the event.

But Wong said the police’s job was to catch criminals, not to point fingers.

“They should carry out investigations instead of making assumptions,” he said. “If your house is broken into, the police should not be asking why the window was not strong enough. They should do their job and catch the criminals.”

He also criticised Umno members and government officials who had attempted to pin the blame for Sunday’s violence on Pakatan Harapan.

“The government and the opposition should both condemn the violence,” he said. “Instead, some in the government are trying to put the blame on the organisers.”

Earlier, Prime Minister Najib Razak’s press secretary, Tengku Sariffuddin Ahmad, issued a statement blaming PPBM and Pakatan chairman Mahathir Mohamad for the violence. He said the perpetrators were angry with Mahathir for failing to answer questions about scandals that took place when he was prime minister.

However, Wong said he believed the incident would work towards Pakatan’s favour.

“It is largely perceived that Umno was behind what happened at the forum,” he said. “Whether or not this is true, the violence that happened makes people question how desperate the government is and how far it’s willing to go.”

Ivy Chong contributed to this article. - FMT