Picture tells a thousand words by Terence Fernandez Sat, 18 Apr 2008

THE photograph is of Tanjung Sepat assemblyman Datuk Abdul Karim Mansor indicating his approval of some sort taken at a pig-rearing facility in Germany. It was taken last year during the previous Selangor state government’s study tour to Europe to study modern pig farming methods. This photograph is among several in the possession of Yaakob Sapari, the executive councillor in charge of agriculture modernisation, natural resources and entrepreneurial development, which documents the members of the former state government of Datuk Seri Dr. Mohamad Khir Toyo’s visit to Germany and The Netherlands as part of a study for a centralised pig farming project in the Kuala Langat District.

Abdul Karim, who initiated importing the technology from Germany via a bumiputra company is today opposing the project he was once a proponent of, accusing the present government of being insensitive to the Muslim community by going ahead with the integrated pig farming system. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, and this one is priceless. There are more. The rest, dear readers, is up to you to make a conclusion. And by the way, Mohd Khir and his colleagues in the previous excutive council had classified all documents on the lawatan sambil belajar as an “official secret”. It was de-classified last week after Abdul Karim and his band of merry-men decided to demonstrate. Yes, they used taxpayers’ money and yet did not want anyone to know about it. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, will pigs start flying or will the “operasi protes” go to the dogs?

Exceptionally swift action

Kudos to the Kuala Lumpur Police and the top brass in Bukit Aman for their speedy action against organisers of the Black 14 rally on April 14. According to the authorities, what was supposed to be a “private dinner” for a few hundred guests to mark Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s return to active politics turned out to be a political rally attended by 7,000 people – although the actual figure is more in the region of 20,000. One is always a proponent that the law makes no exceptions in its implementation and no one is above it – not Anwar and not Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim who was present and gave a speech. The police had also showed that they “sedia berkhidmat” without fear or favour when they said they would quiz Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng for his utterances about the New Economic Policy (NEP) last month.

And let me tell you, everything takes a back seat to the police – even the running of a state, where the Selangor Exco meeting was delayed on Wednesday as Abdul Khalid had to give his statement to the boys in blue. With the law enforcement authorities working overtime, particularly in Selangor and Penang, we the ordinary citizens should be feeling a lot more secure. However, one hopes they will look beyond the 21st floor of Bangunan Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah in Shah Alam or the 28th floor of Komtar in Penang.

It would help if the cops would look a little lower – say the entrance to both buildings where Umno-led protesters numbering between 200 and 3,000 had on several occasions gathered – without a police permit – to voice their dissatisfaction over issues as diverse as sharing the economic pie and pig farms. There were no water cannons and no one got wet, cuffed or quizzed. For a change, it is good to see that the man in the street is not discriminated against in favour of those in positions of power – a constant criticism on the law enforcement authorities.

So to the nay-sayers, who have given our force a bad rap for far too long, shame on you! So what if there are a few missing kids, a woman being raped every other day and snatch thefts as common as ikan bilis in nasi lemak? This is national security we are talking about here! The police have certainly got their priorities right and are acting independently without doing the bidding of politicians. Good for them and it’s nice to note that the new bunga raya emblem has not made softies out of some of them yet.

Terence feels discretion can be viewed as discrimination. He is deputy news editor (special reports & investigations) and is reachable at terence@thesundaily.com. The ource of this article The Sun