Fashion Police

When it comes whatever extent of a democracy Malaysia has, one thing is certain - we like to keep things literal. When it came to throwing the book, Karpal Singh famously took it one step further in Parliament by throwing his shoe. When it came to branches of government, the legitimate Perak government took it one step further by turning to the Tree of Democracy. And now police have arrested Wong Chin Huat for sedition for suggesting that people wear black today in protest of the Barisan Nasional's hostile takeover of the Perak government - bringing a special new stench to the words "fashion police." Plus, the undemocratic nature of Barisan Nasional's "power-grab" is certified with the physical removal of Perak Speaker Sivakumar from his seat.

Photo sourced from Lim Kit Siang, showing the forced removal of Sivakumar

Ultimately, people will remember the words of people like Najib and Muhiyiddin falsely accusing the Pakatan Rakyat of forcing unnecessary by-elections (which in itself makes no sense), when in Perak these very politicians are doing their best to avoid what is a necessary state-wide election.

All this while Dr Mahathir maintains his classic independent streak (despite all the show of solidarity at the UMNO General Assembly) by commenting again on the validity of the removal of Perak Mentri Besar Nizar:

As far as I know, the federal constitution states very clearly that a monarch cannot remove a prime minister. He can refuse to appoint a prime minister, but once appointed you cannot remove him until there's a vote of no-confidence made against him. - Dr Mahathir, as reported by mysinchew

Once upon a time, Malaysia received a black eye in international standing when more literally Anwar Ibrahim received a black eye while in police custody, hit - while handcuffed - by none other than the top man in the police force. Today, the police have decided to give themselves a black eye, going against not the power of black shirts, but the strength of ideals and ideas of conscience, due process and the true quality of one's democracy.

Perhaps even more importantly, they have failed to protect the people of Perak - including their democratically elected Speaker - from those who would usurp their right to decide.