Police report against Chong

Khairy Jamaluddin

Umno Youth wants action on state DAP chief for alleging BN allows crime rate to soar

KUCHING: Umno Youth lodged a police report at the Indera Mahkota police station in Pahang against state DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen yesterday for saying that Barisan Nasional (BN) government is purposely allowing crime rates in the country to soar to justify bringing back preventive laws.

In a press statement yesterday, Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin said Chong’s statement was “malicious, seditious and excessive”.

“The statement is clearly seditious with the intent to manipulate the people into hating BN, a legally chosen government in the last election,” said Khairy.

Khairy said as senior leader of DAP and Bandar Kuching MP, Chong had shown the true colour of the opposition, which is advocating the politics of hatred and division.

“We hope people can see the quality of thinking and struggle of the opposition leaders,” he said in the statement.

Meanwhile, unfazed by the police report, Chong said he stood by his statement when contacted by The Borneo Post yesterday.

“I stand by my statement. We have always stood by what we have said,” said the Bandar Kuching MP.

He added that the main issue was not his statement but rather how to curb the rising crime rate in the country.

“They (BN leaders) should think how to curb increasing crime rates rather than taking action against me.

“BN is the government. The police are under the Home Affairs Ministry and they are doing a horrible and lousy job. There is no excuse for not being able to maintain security,” said Chong, who is also Kota Sentosa state assemblyman.

When asked why as a lawyer he made such a serious allegation without concrete evidence, Chong said he had used the word “suspicion” – that it “seemed like the BN government was using the situation to get EO-like laws to be reintroduced”.

Chong on Monday had said in a press conference that “of late there are certain sectors in BN including Zahid (Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi) who have been using the increase in crime rate and gun shooting as grounds to reintroduce preventive laws like the EO.

“Our suspect is that crime rates are deliberately allowed to skyrocket and the police are taking a couldn’t-care-less attitude about crime so as to give justification for Zahid to reintroduce laws like EO which will give Zahid as Minister of Home Affairs the uninhibited power to silence dissidents and to oppose and suppress the opposition.”

His statement has drawn condemnation from BN leaders and state police chief Datuk Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani.-