Dr Mahathir: Police right in taking action against PPS

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed said the police were right in arresting the Penang Voluntary Patrol Unit (PPS) in Penang on Sunday.

He said Malaysia is not a country that allowed its state government to take over the role of police nor does it offer any special treatment to any uniformed body playing the role of police.

Dr Mahathir said the voluntary corps appeared to have challenged the police by participating in the Merdeka celebration in Penang despite the police orders not to.

He said the group had seemed to purposely use the special day to break the law and paint a bad picture of the police.

“I think they should go to other countries where the police are really offensive and they shoot and kill people. Then they will know how peaceful Malaysia is,” he said after witnessing the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Langkawi Development Authority and Sentoria Langkawi Sdn Bhd yesterday.

Dr Mahathir stressed that by wearing uniforms supplied by non-governmental organisation, a person cannot play the role of police.

“People who believe they have power in the state shouldn’t assume that they have the power to take over the duty of police,” he added.

On Sunday, police had detained 154 members of PPS after they participated in a Merdeka Day rally in Padang Kota, Penang.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar was reported to have said that the PPS members, including seven women, were detained at 10.15am to facilitate investigation for breaching regulations under Section 41 of the Societies Act.

UMNO Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin who also agreed with the police’s action, described the PPS as dangerous.

“This is dangerous, I saw pictures of the Penang chief minister with a purple vest, there were ranks. But (they are) not registered,” he was quoted by an online news portal.