Top cop wishes Guan Eng, Kong Hee Fatt Choy
We’ll talk to you when you are free, so enjoy the holidays, he says, closing the chapter on that calendar-ing misstep: police had earlier told the chief minister to turn up for sedition questioning on Chinese New Year eve.
Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar told FMT today that he didn’t want to comment further on the matter.
“No need for me to comment further… Let CM Lim Guan Eng enjoy Chinese New Year and after that, we will contact him again for a date when he will be free.
“I wish Kong Hee Fatt Choy to YAB LGE,” Khalid said in a Whatsapp message to FMT. His abbreviations meant “Yang Amat Berhormat Lim Guan Eng”, referring to the chief minister by his formal title.
Khalid was asked to comment on Lim saying earlier today that the police should just apologise and give him a new date, without telling him to make the request.
Lim had been criticising the police after the investigating officer in his sedition probe informed him that the police wanted to record his statement on Jan 27, which is Chinese New Year eve — a day significant to the Chinese community that returns home for reunions ahead of the festivities.
Lim argued that it could not be a calendar oversight because everyone in multicultural Malaysia knew it was the day before Chinese New Year, a national holiday.
The police, he said, should be more sensitive and respect the celebrations.
Yesterday, one of Lim’s most outspoken critics, Gerakan Youth deputy chief Andy Yong also said it was inconsiderate of the police to want to question Lim on Chinese New Year eve.
However, Yong and Penang MCA chairman Tan Teik Cheng felt Lim went “over the top” with his defiance when the chief minister could have simply asked for the date to be changed.
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Lim is being investigated over remarks he made in November about the proposal to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act. He first gave his statement to the police on Jan 13.