Police - once eagles, now turkeys

There was a time when the Royal Malayan/Malaysian Police was trusted, respected and relied upon by Malayans/Malaysians.

They walked around armed only with truncheons. Malayans of my uncles’ vintage laughed at the police of neighbouring countries like the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand because those law enforcers wore pistols - they were sneered at as 'cowboys', not like our officers. In Malaya then, only those who were directly operating against the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) had cause to carry armed weapons.

Even the Special Branch was regarded with pride as the unit that would always obtain the required intelligence, whether in domestic or overseas operations.

Two SB police inspectors in the late 70’s infiltrated the MCP, living with the insurgents for years. With the intelligence they provided and the internal dissent and split up they were reputed to have fomented in the MCP, it could be said they were responsible for the eventual breakup of the MCP and its debilitation. Such was the standard of police officers. The two were Paul Kiong and Sia Boon Chee, who were both awarded Malaysia’s highest award for valour, the Seri Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa, by the Agong.

Today the Police is not even a pale imitation of its former glorious self. It is sub-zero in the eyes of the average Malaysians.

Armed to the teeth, they terrorise candlelight vigils instead of communists, while crime rates soared through the ceiling. Their SB focused on innocent Malaysians or Pakatan politicians and supporters while Israeli spies and illegal migrants slipped through our borders to live among us, committing political espionage, political voting and non-political crimes.

They are quick to arrest opposition politicians and human rights activists like Irene Fernandez, just because she published a report on the living conditions of the migrant workers entitled "Abuse, Torture and Dehumanised Conditions of Migrant Workers in Detention Centres" while criminals and Mat Rempits roam the streets.

They have become more fond of photographing naked women in police lockups than the Israeli spies and criminals in our midst, both nasties alleged to have very intimate association with top police officers.

And what have the police done to solve the murders of Nurin Jazlin Jazimin and Preeshena Varshiny?

Now they have shot dead a 14 year old kid, Aminulrasyid Amzah for speeding away in his sister’s car.

And just what did the IGP threaten to do when shocked Malaysians call for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into such an abhorrent consequence of police shooting?

Precisely what his predecessory had threatened when AAB wanted to establish the IPCMC, and who was allowed to get away with his insubordination and public mutiny of threats to AAB's government, and bizarrely was even given a hero's farewell when he retired, with a Tan Sri title. A f* amazing example of what a defiant and mutinous IGP could achieve against the effeminate ineffectiveness of our police ministers.

Please tell me, how have such a once glorious force, trusted and respected by Malayans/Malaysians become a distrusted, despised and dreaded body, reviled by the average citizen? Indeed, how are the once mighty fallen!