The IGP announced today that the Jelutong lawmaker should turn himself in over his insensitive remarks on Twitter. Of course, we are referring to Jeff's "adios" tweet over the death of PAS spiritual leader Datuk Haron Din.

Of course, Jeff has his defence that somehow saying "adios" is somehow polite. Some of his defenders go so far as to linguistically link the phrase to Greek, for some awkward reason, and go so far by using a tabloid front cover on the funeral of Princess Diana.

Look, the Spanish formally offer their condolences by saying "mi mas sentido pesame", with "adios" more akin to the saying of Antonio Banderas before shooting a drug lord before walking off into a sunset.

Had anyone actually bothered to ask someone from Spain, or anyone who took it as a third language, they would be able to put this issue aside.

Either way, it does not warrant the actions of police intimidation. He was rude, but that is not a crime.

Thus, the question now would be on Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar and the Royal Malaysian Police - just what exactly is the charge?

It isn't an insult to Islam for someone to use the wrong phrase in offering condolences.

Meanwhile, Ali Tinju is also being probed for his death threat against Bersih's Maria Chin Abdullah, which is rational.

He's threatening to cause bodily harm, Jeff is just an insensitive blowhard who obviously is not fluent in Spanish.

It just goes to show the person is just not worldly enough to actually filter his words. And quite honestly, I believe the prevalence of gaffes among Malaysian politicians is not exactly news - be it the DAP or even UMNO.

Of course, I can't say the same for some other commenters. And while insulting a religion (any religion) is legally wrong, there seems to be bias in being totally indifferent when it happens to any other than Islam, wouldn't you say?

As much I expect a tit-for-tat over the comments when the next politician dies, again, it isn't a crime. The police should not be bothered to act against political correctness and moronic statements because Malaysians by and large should grow up and show some maturity.

But then again, that would be too much to expect from a society that thrives on pseudoscience, to the point that fresh beef reacting to salt is somehow seen as a miracle of Allah by some on social media.

We should not police rudeness, it is part and parcel of the freedom of expression and speech. We can condemn them, or in the case of politicians - choose not to vote for them or even call on the political party to censure them and remove them from the ballot in the next general election.

It is not for the police or Khalid to take action. The police is not supposed to police emotions. They are supposed to maintain order and stop people from causing bodily harm and overreacting to the point of violence.

But then again, those would apply to a mature society - which we are obviously lacking.


* Hafidz Baharom is a social observer and a regular contributor. Views expressed are personally his and do not necessarily reflect those of Astro AWANI.