Zahid Hamidi: Go ahead, charge me with sedition!

This was his daring reply to the Bar Council's allegations that the former had crossed the line in a speech he made during a closed-door event in Malacca last Saturday, which might have breached the Sedition Act 1984.

Zahid had allegedly said it was okay for the police to "shoot first" when it came to apprehending criminals.

"Go ahead!" said a straight-faced Zahid during an exclusive interview with Astro AWANI, when asked to respond to the Bar Council's statement.

Zahid, who had kept mum on the criticisms levelled against him, came out clean for the first time today.

He claimed that his now-infamous statement "shoot first, ask later" was referring to the five Gang 04 members who were gunned down by police in Penang in August.

"I was referring to the incident in Penang where we received information that the five gang members were armed.

"The police could not be expected to fire a warning shot first and act only in self-defence later if they already know that the criminals were armed.

"If that's the case, many cops would have been dead. What I said (in Malacca) was the police's readiness because they had early information (about the criminals)," said the minister.

Zahid also defended the police for following the standard operating procedures (SOP) in facing the criminals and said they were not being 'trigger happy'.

Meanwhile, the Bagan Datoh MP reiterated his stand that human rights are for everyone including the police and victims of crime, not just for criminals.

"Let's be rational. I don't think the Opposition wants to protect the criminals. Nobody wants crime."

Zahid urged the public to look at the amendments to the Crime Prevention Act that was passed in the Dewan Negara today, as a tool to protect the society and citizens.

Zahid came under fire after a news portal uploaded an audio recording of his controversial speech at a function in Malacca last Saturday.

In his speech, he had said 28,000 of the 40,000 gang members were identified to be of Indian ethnicity and that there was nothing wrong in detaining them.

"What is the situation of robbery victims, murder victims during shootings? Most of them are Malays. Most of them are our race.

"I think the best way is that we no longer compromise with them. There is no need to give them anymore warnings. If we get the evidence, we shoot first," he was recorded as saying.

He had also reportedly said members of the 'Tiga Line' secret society were his "friends".