Keystone Cops patrol KL

Been one of those weeks, stuck in traffic for mindless kilometres and hours only to go past a road block and a bored looking cop not even bothering to check your car, let alone limply wave you through.

The city police said they had 1,600 policemen to lock down the city but the Siber Party of Malaysia (M) wonders where they found the two dozen or so, some in cheap ski-masks and luminous vests, to go arrest Anwar Ibrahim for nearly being late to see them.

So, we were in a gridlock, Anwar was in an armlock and later in a lock-up as police stuck to the lock down. Maybe because they were as goofy as the Keystone Cops that they decided lock was the word of the week.

We do think it is unfair if not uncanny for the police to reuse the same script 10 years later to celebrate Anwar's first arrest when the so-called balaclava-clad policemen took him down while his supporters stared down menacingly at riot police with wicker shields protecting their prized catch. But then, it was at night.

This time, in broad daylight and the accidental presence of a Nanyang Siang Pau photographer, the cops donned their garb of choice and made their move on Anwar. Ridiculous and ludicrous are the only words to describe the police farce.

Makes you wonder where the fashion police was at that time of day. Possibly checking us as we went out for lunch in case we wore any pro-reformasi type stuff.

This much we know about the Royal Malaysian Police. They are not too smart though they have intelligence and wherewithal to actually bring down crime and keep the peace. Instead, the former deputy prime minister gets royal treatment with a hood covering his head and an escort of ski-masked men in police issue vest just for questioning into a case.

There is no charge yet but the words in a police report. And of course, the de facto leader of the opposition himself is a drama queen and insists on recalling events a decade ago. Both Anwar and the police are stuck in a rut and a moment they want to replay every 10 years or so.

Makes you want to scream for some of that treatment if caught speeding too. Or at least make sure some of these ski-masked vest-wearing cops provide some security around town and not use it to commit crime themselves.

Don't forgive this rant. The entire thing is a farce that even the Keystone Cops or Harol Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin could ever think of as a sketch.

The Siber Party of Malaysia (M) wants a respectable police force and focus on the economy not a farce and an inclination to look up down under.