KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 – The Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) has been urged to be as diligent in focusing on criminals on the street as they appear to be on Twitter, as claimed by a DAP assemblyman today. Selangor state assembly Speaker Hannah Yeoh, who had five men armed with parang, robbing her parent’s house in USJ 3 today, said she had tagged the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar on Twitter as the latter claimed to be monitoring the social network.
“I tagged the IGP on Twitter because I know he is monitoring Twitter,” Yeoh said through a WhatsApp message to The Rakyat Post, when asked. According to The Subang Jaya assemblyman, five masked men broke into the house around 10am, armed with a machete each and stole over RM8,000 cash, jewellery and liquor, among others. Yeoh’s mother, grand aunt, niece and maid were forced to cover their heads with a blanket while the robbery took place.
“I am thankful that my family members were not injured. It is crime such as this that remains the greatest concern of Malaysians,” Yeoh said, adding that she had tagged Khalid after lodging a police report. While it was reported by The Malay Mail Online that Khalid had asked Yeoh to lodge a police report when asked to comment on the incident earlier, Yeoh stressed that police report was made. “Of course, police report done! We need the same diligence online and offline,” she said.
Meanwhile, sharing similar sentiments, former Law Minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said the police should be focusing on other pressing matters. “IGP should not arrest all who oppose the government’s decision. Police should focus on criminals, the corrupt, robbers and thieves,” Zaid posted on Twitter today. Negara-ku People’s Movement co-founder Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan slammed Khalid for treating citizens as criminals over statements issued.
She tagged Khalid in a series of tweets today, saying that she was ‘lodging a formal complaint to Khalid via Twitter’. “@KBAB51 We object to citizens being treated like criminals for things they say. I am making this formal complaint to you by Twitter,” she said in one of her tweets. However, not everyone was against the IGP, as Gerakan Youth chief Tan Keng Liang came to his defence.
“Earlier, I advised @hannahyeoh file police report over burglary, not just tweet @KBAB51…she said “Don’t be stupid”. Wrong attitude in DAP,” Tan wrote on Twitter today, referring to both Yeoh (@hannahyeoh) and Khalid’s (@KBAB51) Twitter handle. Another Twitter user, Benyamin Alsagoff, also voiced support for the IGP, saying, “I fully support @KBAB51 & @PDRMsia actions against those who think they arr above the Law.”
