Who says Malaysia is not a police state?

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is now furiously backpedalling to prevent a worsening crisis from Umno’s failure to convince the rakyat that Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was involved in the latest sex video.

The police are now used by Najib as his personal rottweilers to stop Anwar from making political mileage with this latest debacle. They have restricted Anwar’s freedom to express or communicate political views, at a scheduled Pakatan Rakyat function.

Policemen had attempted to stop Anwar from speaking but this only incensed the crowd.

Anwar, who was the last speaker for the night, had spoken for about 13 minutes before the police intervened. Anwar had only been given 15 minutes to speak.

When Anwar was stopped from speaking, the crowd responded by throwing chairs and water bottles at the fully-armed 10-man Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) team.

Although Anwar tried to calm the crowd, his voice was drowned by the sound of the 800-odd attendees.

PKR Youth Chief Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin rightfully condemned the police action of trying to arrest Anwar

“The way that they reacted, in trying to arrest him tonight, it’s uncalled for. People’s patience has certain limits, reached its patience,” said the PKR leader.

Although Anwar eventually left the function and was not arrested, it does raise questions about the legitimacy of this government.

It is Umno which tried to discredit Anwar with the sex video scandal. They tried the Sodomy route but that looks increasingly dodgy by the day.

Weeks ago, former Prime minister Mahathir Mohamad had already planted in our minds, the seed that Anwar was someone who cavorted with prostitutes. He also claimed that during his tenure, Mahathir had got wind of Anwar asking for four girls for sex.

How very convenient then, that weeks after Mahathir revealed this, the Permatang Pauh MP was implicated in the sex video.

The former Malacca chief minister Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik had earlier admitted that both he and Shazryl were behind the video.

Abdul Rahim told reporters at a joint press conference together with Shazryl that the trio had chosen to step forward on their own accord because they wanted to show that “a person with high ambitions of wanting to be national leader and prime minister of Malaysia ... was not qualified.”

Perhaps this description should also be applied to Najib.

Now that this sex video plan has gone awry, and perhaps the people who hatched this plan are fearful that all trails will lead to Najib, Abdul Rahim quickly revealed that he and two other colleagues were responsible for the video.

It is remarkable that the police have dragged their feet even after this child rapist has confessed to producing the sex video.

It is even more remarkable that with public opinion turning against Umno and Najib, the police allowed themselves to be manipulated, to harass Anwar.

The public will not forget that Rahim is already a paedophile. He was rewarded for his efforts with a job in Risda. This time, he is responsible for another lewd act. Again, Rahim goes unpunished, just like the rape he committed a few decades ago.

What sort of message is this sending the publish? Men who rape and who are corrupt, are allowed to become leaders in GLCs and other departments.

In 1987 during Ops Lalang, Tunku Abdul Rahman, our elderly ‘Bapa Malaysia’ said that the country had become a police state. He could also see the underlying reasons for Mahathir's actions and put it bluntly:

“Umno was facing a break-up. The prime minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad's hold on the party appeared critical when election rigging was alleged to have given him a very narrow victory against Tunku Razaleigh (Hamzah).

“The case alleging irregularities brought by Umno members was pending in court. If the judgment went against him he would have no choice but to step down. So he had to find a way out of his predicament.

“A national crisis had to be created to bring Umno together as a united force to fight a common enemy - and the imaginary enemy in this case was the Chinese community...”

Fast forward to 2011 and the current PM has a new enemy. This enemy is no imagination. He is for real and is Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. He presents a serious threat to both Najib and Mahathir. If Anwar were to come to power, Najib, Mahathir and their hangers-on are finished.

If the Sodomy II trial, or the sex video and other things that are in Umno’s bag of tricks do not work, there is always the police who will accomplish  the dirty deed for Umno.

Malaysian policemen have allowed themselves to be manipulated by Najib.  So  who says Malaysia is not a police state?

Written by  Mariam Mokhtar, Malaysia Update