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Police are in an unenviable position. They are law enforcers and yet they can be a stifling tool to gag democracy. At least this appears to be the case in Malaysia.

Two critical events happened soon after Raja Petra Kamarudin was reined in for alleged sedition.

One, you have a series of police reports lodged against lawyer and MP Karpal Singh for allegedly making seditious remarks over appointments of civil servant.

Two, even the mainstream newspapers are now being probed allegedly under Official Secret Act (OSA) for publishing the findings of the Royal Commission on the Lingam Tape before it was made public. Remember, a jail sentence is mandatory under OSA.

In the second case, as reported in the media, it was none other than the Prime Minister's Department that has lodged the police report against the newspapers, purportedly The Star, The NST and Berita Harian.

It is not known whether Sin Chew Daily, and even the Bar Council website, will be dealt the same OSA probe as both have also published the findings before there were made public yesterday.

This wobbling Abdullah Administration must remember that investigative journalism must thrive in this country if democracy is of any meaning. Bare the facts and let the people decide, what is there to hide?

I concur with Wong Chun Wai, though we often differ in our views, that the findings of the commission are not prejudicial to national security because the proceedings were opened to the public.

What the Press had done was basically having "scoops", expose that is said to have irked certain members of the commission and Cabinet members. The latest round of police reports by the PM's Office just signifies the usual knee-jerk responses from Putraya if past records are used as benchmarks.

Are the government and the Commission so worried that our Press now has the means to get hold of the critical information and set it bare? If so, then, they must have got the priotity upside down. The Government and the Commission must be reminded that, backdropped against the current lowest ebb of public confidence over the BN government and the jucidiacy, their job is to restore the public's trust in them.

It's absolutely wrong for them to invoke OSA to kill the messenger.

Apart from selling the Commission Report at RM542, it should be published online in this day of the world. There should be free access to information if we are not a Police State.

Read Chun Wai's blog, Malaysian Insider and Rocky's Bru for context.