Guan Eng threatens to sue NST over PPS reports
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has threatened to sue the media over reports on the state's Voluntary Patrol Unit (PPS) which he said has been defamatory of the state government.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng today said the state leaders here were ready to face any possibility in the crackdown on the Voluntary Patrol Squad (PPS).
"All of us are ready to face action, including me. I am at the frontline.
"A leader leads from the front, not behind. We are not running away," he said in a press conference.
Lim maintained that PPS was set up under the auspices of the state government, and is a legal society.
"If there is a dispute, let it be decided by the courts.
"As how we did things with the petition to restore local government elections, we let the courts decide. We were not happy with the decision, but we accepted it," he said.
Lim slammed the mass arrests of PPS members as a means by the authorities to show power, and stated that they will not bow to such bullying tactics.
The PPS has been declared illegal by the police as it is not registered with the Registrar of Societies.
State executive councillor Phee Boon Poh, who is also PPS chairman, was detained for 24 hours on Sunday.
He and 155 PPS members were arrested after taking part in the Merdeka Parade at the Esplanade on Sunday, and were released on police bail on Monday.
They are being investigated under Section 43 of the Societies Act 1966 for being involved in illegal activities, including secret societies.
Among those arrested recently for being members of the Penang Voluntary Patrol Unit (PPS) are families who joined the organisation to help improve security and peace in their communities.
Those interviewed said their arrests have not discouraged them from sacrificing their time and energy to serve in the organisation, as all they have done was help keep their communities safe.
Tan Hooi San, 33, who works as a clerk by day, is now used to following her husband on nightly patrols in their neighbourhood in Prai. The couple joined the PPS in 2012 after the security in the area where they live deteriorated.
All 155 members of the contingent were detained by the police after the parade for allegedly being active in an illegal society.
Police had earlier announced that PPS was an unlawful body as it was not registered with the Registrar of Societies. The state has maintained that PPS is a legal body as it was instituted by the Penang government.
Hooi San said her husband, Alex Goh, a contractor, did not join the parade that morning and therefore, he was not arrested. However, he had to wait all day for his wife and her uncle to be released on police bail.
Asked how she felt during the arrest, she said: “I was not afraid because we had done no wrong".
“My parents were very worried. They asked why the police had detained their daughter. They asked what wrong I had done in helping to contribute towards public safety,” she said in an interview.
"We were only celebrating our country’s independence on Merdeka Day,” she added.
Her uncle kept a watchful eye on her throughout the arrest, she said.
Safer neighbourhood after patrolling
Hooi San said she and her husband had joined the PPS because of the many thefts and break-ins in Prai.
The PPS gave them a formal avenue to do voluntary work, in which they cooperated with the police and the Fire and Rescue Service Department (Bomba).
“The area became much safer after we did the patrolling,” she said.
“We only kept watch and reported anything suspicious to the police.
“My husband also responds to calls from Bomba during accidents and fires.”
Hooi San said she and her husband would still patrol their neighbourhood as individual citizens, saying that if they stop, the crime rate would surely rise.
Hooi San's uncle, Bak Sun, said the PPS would get all sorts of calls for help from residents. In each case, they would contact the police.
He remembered an occasion where oil had spilt onto the road after a bus had overturned in Chai Leng Park. He showed up with a PPS team immediately to help control traffic and prevent more accidents after a few motorcyclists had lost control of their motorcycles and crashed after hitting the oil slicks.
“We blocked the road until the Bomba arrived,” he said, adding that the situation was dangerous as the oil was flammable but their quick response averted any serious problems.
He also recalled another incident where he saw two suspicious-looking men on a motorbike in their neighbourhood, and followed them.
“I kept a safe distance behind them and saw them observing a man. They were about to rush towards him, as though to snatch his bag, when I revved my own motorbike. They turned around and saw me and quickly fled,” he said, adding that he then contacted the police.
“We are still willing to work with the police and other agencies in our individual capacities,” he added. “We will be on stand-by to help out in any emergency.”
Why illegal now?
Having cooperated with the police before, Hooi San does not understand why PPS members were arrested and are now accused of being an illegal body.
She said she and 30 other members had attended a briefing for the PPS by the local police at the Taman Inderawasih Hall in Prai on August 28 – just three days before they were arrested.
“The police said the PPS was very helpful,” she said.
“If we were illegal why would the police come to meet us? It was just a few days before we got arrested.”
Like his niece, Bak Sun said he felt he had done no wrong.
“I was, however, very worried for her and made sure she was fine,” he said.
“I have seen lock-ups before but this was her first time, but I am glad she is still strong.”
Married couple sacrifices personal time
Among those arrested were a married couple in their 30s who declined to be named.
The husband, who is a businessman, told The Malaysian Insider that they had joined the PPS from its early days.
“We joined to help the community. We gave our time during many urgent incidents like accidents and fires,” he said.
“Snatch theft was a big problem before, but after we carried out patrolling, the number of cases reduced,” he said.
He said both he and his wife, who is a clerk, sacrificed their time for society, and did not mind spending their nights patrolling to improve the safety and security of the neighbourhood.
“My wife was very scared when we were arrested. I was also worried for her,” he said.
"But we are determined that we did the right thing,” he said, adding that if given the opportunity to serve again – should the PPS be deemed a legal entity by the courts – they would do so without the slightest hesitation.
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As many as 60 British women have joined an all-female sharia police unit for the Islamic State (ISIS), reprimanding those who fall foul of the jihad's strict rules.
The al-Khansaa Brigade is believed to be operating in the Syrian city of Raqqa, which is controlled by ISIS jihadists and works as their Syrian headquarters.
According to the Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium (TRAC), the militia group was established earlier this year to help expose male activists who attempt to disguise themselves in women's clothing to avoid detention.
A prominent figure in the police force, according to the UK-based International Centre for the Study of Radicalization (ICSR), is Aqsa Mahmood, a privately-educated Glaswegian 20-year-old who fled to Syria last November.
Most of the British women who have travelled to the war torn region to fight, are between the ages of 18 and 24, Daily Telegraph reports, a further three of whom are believed to have joined the military unit.
Aqsa Mahmood. (Photo via Twitter)
The ICSR says it monitors 25 British female jihadists who have left their lives in the UK to support ISIS.
The brigade's women are reportedly paid a monthly salary of 25,000 Syrian Pounds (roughly £100), says TRAC, for duties that are not involved with acts of terror — instead insurgency operations.
They are not the only all-female brigade, either, with another — Umm Al-Rayan — also created around the same time.
Security services believe that it is likely that the women will know the true identity of 'Jihadi John', the ISIS fighter believed to be the person responsible for the beheading of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff.According to Syria Deeply, the al-Khansaa brigade has also been tasked with cracking down on civilian women who fail to abide by the ultra-strict brand of sharia law implemented by ISIS, including that women be fully covered in public and be chaperoned by a male.
An ISIS official in Raqqa reportedly said: "We have established the brigade to raise awareness of our religion among women, and to punish women who do not abide by the law.
"There are only women in this brigade, and we have given them their own facilities to prevent the mixture of men and women."
Aqsa Mahmood. (Photo via Twitter)
On Thursday, the parents of Mahmood made an emotional plea for their daughter to return and claimed that she had "betrayed" not only them but their community and "the people of Scotland" when she left to fight.
"Our daughter is brainwashed and deluded and helping those engaged in genocide," her parents said.
Melanie Smith, a research associate at ICSR, said: "The British women are some of the most zealous in imposing the IS (Islamic State) laws in the region. I believe that's why at least four of them have been chosen to join the women police force."
The identities of the other three women are current unknown, however a small contingent of female Britons have flown over to the region to fight in some capacity.
Twin 16-year-old sisters Zahra and Salma Halane left their Manchester home on 26 June to join the conflict — it is believed they married ISIS militants, with terrorist chiefs investigating whether the men paid for their travel.
Muslim convert Sally Jones, a mother of two from Kent, is also believed to have fled to ISIS from her life in the UK after meeting a computer hacker turned jihadi online and later marrying him.
A Syrian air strike targeting an ISIS stronghold in Raqqa killed at least 25 people on Saturday — most of whom were civilians, with nine ISIS fighters dead. Activists say the missile hit a crowded bakery.
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