PRESENT POINT POWER

The call by Ailiran is timely but the Police would have to carry out their duties since a report (by themselves ) has been made they have to see the investigations to the end and the final decision would rest with the Home Minister if he wants to proceed to prosecute them.

The police have been waiting for this opportunity and would demand its “pound of flesh” from Malaysiakini.

But a pertinent pressing question is what the police going to do about the numerous reports made over the years by non-governmental organisations, as well as opposition parties, on similar transgressions done by the authorities in power?
(see letter below). Why no action taken on such cases and there seems to be no urgency?

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Police urged to stop probe against Malaysiakini ;Friday, 04 August 2006

Aliran is perturbed that police have begun investigations into a Malaysiakini report which allegedly slandered the police. The news portal's breaking news-report had initially stated - incorrectly as it turned out - that police personnel could have been involved in the incident where a man sprayed chemical irritant at former premier Tun Dr Mahathir and former Umno strongman Datuk Ibrahim Ali.

The incident took place at the Sultan Ismail Petra airport in Kota Baru, Kelantan on 28 July 2006.

The police action is ominous, coming as it does soon after the negative ministerial comments about Internet reports - which have the unfortunate effect of curbing the vibrant and bold news coverage of political happenings in the country. Is this the forerunner of a crackdown on our democratic space and a denial of access to news that the authorities find unpalatable? Are we about to witness the encroachment of oppressive rule in Malaysia?

Malaysiakini editor Steven Gan has explained that the initial newsflash merely mentioned the possibility of police involvement. With the presence of men dressed in dark jackets and in the chaos and confusion of the moment, it would appear that a genuine mistake could have been made in suggesting police involvement in the episode.

But what is remarkable is that the moment the situation became clearer and it was established that the police were in no way involved in the drama, Malaysiakini, to their credit, promptly rectified their unfortunate reporting within the space of an hour. Clearly, Malaysiakini did not wantonly implicate the police. There was no malice or deliberate intention to malign the police. Malaysiakini did not state as a matter of fact that the police were involved but rather merely suggested such a possibility arising from a chaotic situation.

Malaysiakini have expressed their regret over their initial report that erroneously implicated the police and are prepared to apologise to the police. They should be commended for owning up to their mistake and making amends for it. This is a noble gesture that must surely be appreciated by the police.

Aliran would like to urge the police to accept Malaysiakini's apology and close this unfortunate episode. We hope that the people-friendly image - mesra - that the police are projecting in trying to build rapport with the public will prevail in this instance and convince the public that the police have a human face and heart.

On the other hand, a refusal to close this chapter on an amicable note may only reinforce the perception that the police are going after Malaysiakini for all their previous courageous reports highlighting the abuse and heavy-handedness of the police. People should not in any way conclude that it is payback time against Malaysiakini. This will be the inevitable conclusion especially in the light of what Mahathir himself has said. After
all, according to the Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily, Mahathir later said he had initially thought it was police tear gas that struck him.

Malaysians would wonder what the difference is between what Malaysiakini reported and what Mahathir said. Would the police lodge a report against Mahathir and start another investigation in order to appear to be even-handed and convince Malaysians that there are no double standards in their action?

P Ramakrishnan ; President ; 4 August 2006
____

Background to the Malaysiakini’s case

This is Bernama’s report on

Police Lodge Report Against Malaysiakini.com ; August 02, 2006 18:55 PM

KOTA BAHARU, Aug 2 (Bernama) -- Acting Kelantan CID chief Supt Shafie Ismail has lodged a police report over an article posted on a website which claimed that the police were behind the pepper spray incident involving former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Shafie said the report against Malaysiakini.com was lodged at the Kota Baharu police station at 4.25 pm on July 31.

He said the report posted on the website which stated former Pasir Mas Member of Parliament Datuk Paduka Ibrahim Ali was sprayed with pepper by the police in the incident at the Sultan Ismail Petra Airport in Pengkalan Chepa last Friday was defamatory.

The police report was lodged to enable police to conduct investigations, he added.

A businessman, who is a "Datuk", was detained in connection with the pepper spray incident on Friday and was released after his remand expired yesterday.

The businessman's legal counsel Zainal Abidin Mustafa said a report stating that his client was released on police bail and that police had obtained an order to impound his passport was inaccurate.

Meanwhile, Kelantan police chief Datuk Zulkifli Abdullah, in a statement issued to Bernama today, said police had applied to release the businessman on bail and for his passport to be impounded but was dismissed by the court.

However, he said police were still investigating the case and follow-up action had been taken pending instructions from the Attorney-General's Chambers.

This is the clarification from Malaysiakini yesterday:
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/54837

Editor's note: Malaysiakini's newsflash on the incident which initially mentioned the possibility of the police being involved was due to the confusion at the scene where conflicting versions had surfaced on what had happened.

The newsflash was based on our journalist who was at the Kota Bahru airport where he initially filed the report that it was Ibrahim Ali who was attacked, not Dr Mahathir Mohamad. This was because of the great commotion among the 1,000-strong supporters who were at the airport to welcome Mahathir.

Malaysiakini had also immediately tried to contact Deputy Inspector -General of Police Musa Hassan several times for comments but the calls went unanswered.

However, the report was rectified an hour later when the situation became clearer and the mention of possible police involvement was promptly removed. Malaysiakini regrets the error. I heard everybody is keeping vigilant.
____

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/54874

Police start probe on Malaysiakini ; Aug 3, 06 6:05pm [extract]

The police have started their investigations into an article by malaysiakini which stated that police personnel could have been involved in the 'sprayattack' which hit former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad and ex-Umno strongman Ibrahim Ali last week.

According to a Bernama report today, Kelantan acting CID chief Shafie Islmail said the state police was being assisted by IT experts from the Bukit Aman federal police headquarters.

"We need the services of technology experts to trace those responsible in producing the report which has been classified as slandering the police," he added.

Shafie said the online media's report that Ibrahim Ali was sprayed with a chemical substance by a person, believed to be from the police force, and was defamatory.
[...]

Current_News Editorial: Law and censorship
04 Aug 2006

FREEDOM of speech is often selfishly defined as the freedom to say what you like. But a frequently forgotten corollary is that it also means the freedom to listen to things you don't like to hear.
Since the arrival of the Internet, Malaysia's energetic cyber-scribblers have been peddling ever louder earfuls of calumny, character assassination and the rest of the sordid stuff that their audiences appear to relish in.
In response, the itch to bring the websites to heel has now spread into a rash, with growing calls for the Government to inflict strong medicine on the propagators of rumour and falsehood.

Such calls must be resisted if they are only intended to scuttle debate and the free-wheeling opinion-making that the web has uniquely spawned. It isn't just about politics, either. Censoring the Internet would be tantamount to throwing the baby of the knowledge economy out with the bathwater of dissent.

If all the country can do to reassert public order in the era of unbridled expression is to resort to 20th-century methods of command and control, it will have failed its first meaningful test of the liberties unleashed by new technology.

The mass media editors who are alleged to have petitioned the Internal Security Ministry to pull the websites down to a "level playing field" have also missed the point. Newspapers are supposed to hold themselves to higher standards of accuracy, integrity and accountability than the freelancers the complaining editors feel they are up against.

If the Internet is really being seen as competition, then it is the mainstream journalists who have to raise their game and press for greater openness and disclosure.

Where the lobby for Internet censorship does have a leg to stand on is in the authorities' flaky enforcement of the laws. Apart from a few cack-handed raids some years ago, the police have barely lifted a finger.

The Multimedia Super Corridor's Bill of Guarantee and the anonymity and untraceability afforded by cyberspace are claimed to make offending bloggers and posters impossible to get at. But these are weasel words to excuse inaction, the persistence of which has encouraged the scandal-mongers to think they are beyond reach.

Warnings and threats are merely going to reinforce the outlaw Netizen's sense of invulnerability. The obvious answer to the clamour for restraining the Internet's wilder fringes is not to impose fresh regulations but to resolutely apply the ones already there.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

UPDATE: Letter to Malaysiakini

Allow police to probe M’kini ; Ahmad Ikhlas Aug 9, 06 3:53pm

I refer to your Aliran urges police to halt Malaysiakini probe.

I wish to emphasise here that, in my opinion, it is only appropriate that we permit the police to conduct a complete and, hopefuly, unbiased investigation into the report implicating members of the police force having been involved for the pepper spray attack on Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The fact that malaysiakini did file the report is justification for such investigation, the retracting and apologising for such inaccurate reporting notwithstanding.

If we demand that the police act fairly towards all, then we ought never to insist that malaysiakini be treated differently, no?

If malaysiakini feels that it has not done anything wrong on purpose and, based on the fact that it was willing to apologise for such incident, then, most probably the police probe would be procedural in nature, nothing more, nothing less.

Now, having said that, may I query what is the police going to do about the numerous reports made over the years by non-governmental organisations, as well as opposition parties, on similar transgressions done by the authorities in power?

I'll wait with bated breath...