"Um... no."

In the backlash of the backfire of the arrest of Sin Chew reporter Tan Choon Cheng, Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar unknowingly indicated the double standard at work.

From today's Star article, 'Reporter's life was threatened':

"Asked if he thought the police action was justified, Syed Hamid said, 'If I start to interfere with the administration of enforcement then it's difficult.'
'I am a minister. I am a politician. If I start to interfere, then people will say I have a political motive. It will send the wrong signals. I cannot interfere,' he said."

And from the same article:

"On why Ahmad (Ismail) was not detained for making racist comments, he explained that Umno had already punished him by suspending him for three years and stripping him of his party posts."

So, essentially, it will provide "wrong signals" to say that the detention of Tan Hoon Cheng was unjustified, because ministers and politicians are out of the picture.

But at the same time, Syed Hamid actually believes that it doesn't give "wrong signals" when he says that the police shouldn't act against Ahmad Ismail? Further, that the police should sit on their hands because of a purely political reason?

There are clearly wrong signals at home.

Is there a valid logic to this? The answer is simple:

"Um... no."