And the Loser of the Day is...

...our Home (Internal Security) Minister, Syed Hamid Albar! (cue canned applause)

He was left to defend the extremely short-sighted moves of detaining the 3 under ISA. From his interviews in theStarOnline and Malaysiakini, it appears that:

1) The police were the ones who decided to arrest the 3. Syed Hamid was merely informed of it. He didn't disagree with it, that's for sure, quote, "The whole thing was started by her (journalist Tan Hoon Cheng)". How are we to believe that the police acted independently when their actions correspond with the biases of the government?

2) ISA was used to detain Tan because they did not think that a journalist would voluntarily go to the police station for questioning. Obviously, the police have trust issues. They don't trust the people, and the people don't trust them. The feeling is mutual.

3) The police's case is weak, perhaps not against Raja Petra, but definitely against Teresa Kok. Special Branch accused her of stirring up racial and religious conflict (again, mind-boggling that Ahmad Ismail is 'exempt' from this), yet the whole masjid issue was not her doing. Khir Toyo is the culprit here, blowing the whole thing out of proportion.

4) Syed Hamid equated Tan's ISA detention with Ahmad Ismail's 3-year suspension, as if one was equal to the other. This is when I have to wonder about goverment mouthpieces. Do they actually believe what they say? Do they practice enough times in front of the mirror to convince themselves first of what they are about to say to the public? Because his logic is just bull.

Referring to point 1), it actually does seem possible that the police acted independently in arresting Tan. If the decision had gone through Badawi, would he nor his advisors not anticipated the fallout? Gerakan and MCA would leave, and Barisan Nasional would be no more. The swiftness of the reversal, or Tan's release, hints that the government quickly tried to stem the damage. Perhaps that's why Tan never made it to Bukit Aman; her police escort got her as far as Ipoh, where she was released at 2:30pm today.

This whole mess is just shameful. Shame on the police, on Syed Hamid, and on Badawi's government.