Is PPS issue a cover?

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PPS members rounded up by the Police after their Merdeka march.

FIXING up the Penang Pakatan Rakyat state government is said to be the cause of the detention of 158 Penang Voluntary Patrol Unit (PPS) members.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said this in a press statement dated Sept 2.

“Unfortunately the BN controlled media, including some in the Chinese press, has adopted the BN position of being anti-PPS. The Penang state government wishes to reiterate that the PPS has never received any written complaint from the police against the PPS as a whole. If there were any such complaints, these would have been communicated by the police to Penang State exco member Phee Boon Poh or myself,” Lim said in the statement.

“It is regrettable that the same BN controlled media has twisted the PPS into a political issue to fix up the Penang PR state government. The Penang state government established PPS to provide emergency relief in accidents, emergency and rescue services and also in response to the call by police to strengthen community policing to fight crime. The state government has inherent powers to set up such a body in the same manner that Jawatankuasa Kemajuan dan Keselamaan Kampung (JKKK) or JKKK (P) was established by the Federal government,” the statement continued

“Following the arrests and whilst awaiting the pronouncement in court of their arrests, the Penang state government had announced that all PPS members would be ‘rested’ from carrying out their voluntary work and not be wearing their uniform vests. This shows that the Penang state government respects the rule of law.”

Throughout the whole incident when the 156 PPS members were detained after their march past at the Merdeka Parade, a panel of lawyers consisting of several Members of Parliament and assemblymembers were at the police station to render legal assistance.

On Sept 1, Lim also announced after a state exco meeting that the state will provide a RM200 compensation payment to every PPS member for every day they remain in detention.