"The latest move by the armed forces and the police will open a Pandora's Box, triggering a number of concerns that could send the country down a slippery slope," he said in a statement released by e-mail.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan said yesterday that the police and armed forces will be holding a joint public order exercise until Monday and the military will be called in to maintain public order if the security situation in Malaysia deteriorates.
The exercise comes when the opposition plans a major rally on Sunday to protest fuel price hikes and opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's fresh sodomy charges.
Liew hoped the public could still assemble despite the presence of the police and army.
The last time the armed forces and police had joint patrols in the Klang Valley was after the 1969 riots while the army assisted the police when Prebet Adam Jaafar ran amok in 1987. Even during the worst of times in 1998, when pro-Reformasi supporters took to the streets in Kuala Lumpur to protest the jailing of Anwar the army stayed in the barracks.
News of the joint operations between police and the armed forces to maintain public order is being debated in blogosphere with the more conspiratorial arguing that this could set the stage for emergency rule in the country.
Government officials are dismissing that notion, saying that police do not have the resources to deal to tackle crime and also maintain law and order across the country.
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