GEORGETOWN, Nov 5 – The Penang State EXCO as its meeting today resolves Ahmad Zahid Hamidi acted in a mall fide manner twice by unlawfully sanctioning the arrest of 157 PPS members on 31.8.2014 and unlawfully declaring the PPS an unlawful society on 4.11.2014 without any communication, proper investigation and respect for natural justice.

The Penang state government categorically condemns the declaration by the Home Minister dated 4.11.2014 that the Penang Voluntary Patrol Unit (Pasukan Peronda Sukarela / PPS) is unlawful under section 5(1) of the Societies Act 1966. Clearly this is a politically motivated attack against PPS and the Penang PR state government.

The unilateral declaration by the Minister is in flagrant disregard of the tenets of natural justice namely that a person cannot be condemned unheard. There was absolutely no communication on the part of the Ministry with the Penang state government as regards the said unit so as to enable us to defend ourselves against the baseless charges meted out against the PPS, and as such is a gross abuse of power by the Minister.

In fact, the declaration under section 5(1) of the said Act, namely that the PPS is unlawful due to the fact that it is allegedly being used for purposes prejudicial to or incompatible with the interest of the security of Malaysia or any part thereof, public order, is a malicious allegation bereft of any truth whatsoever and which is vehemently denied by the Penang state government.

The Home Minister must be reminded that the Penang state government has established the PPS to assist the Penang police in community policing and emergency rescue services. penang Police had no problems working with PPs over the last four years – Why is that a problem now? BN had been making increasingly harsh attack against the PPS following its increasing popularity with all sections of society. There are 9002 members comprising 33% Malays, 57% Chinese and 10% Indians with the numbers of Malays expected to increase to 45% by end 2015.

For the record, it should be noted that the PPS has stood down all of its activities on 1.9.2014, but we nevertheless continue to assert that it is validly formed under the hand of the Penang state government. As such since 1.9.2014 ceased its operations and PPS did not conduct any activities nor its core duties of emergency response nor did it assist the police in community policing.

With the unilateral declaration of the Minister, the validity of which we challenge and which cannot be retrospective in nature, it is clear that there is no case against the PPS members who were arrested on 31.8.2014 and no further extensions should be made on the police bail against them. Theft that were still no charges filed in court shows that there is no case against them and that they were unlawfully arrest whilst participating in the Merdeka parade in Padang Kota Lama Penang. We will consult with our legal team to initiate legal proceedings seeking a judicial review against the declaration made by the Home Minister.

 

Pocket News

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