KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 — Independent oversight of police misconduct is but one of over a hundred recommendations to fix the law enforcement agency, said the National Patriots Association (Patriot).
While public attention was centred on the Independent Police Complaints & Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), the group representing retired security personnel said the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) needed reforms beyond the still-to-be-legislated entity.
“Patriot agrees and welcomes the establishment of IPCMC. But it also believes that it should only be carried out after or along with the implementation of other 124 proposals,” Patriot vice-president DCP (Rtd) Datuk Zulkifli Mohamed said in a statement.
He noted that the Royal Commission to Enhance the Operations and Management of the RMP produced 125 proposals in the area, of which the IPCMC was one.
However, he said public clamour for the IPCMC — the most significant and controversial of the proposals — indicated their lack of confidence in the police’s ability to self-regulate.
The leadership of the police must take the initiative to implement remaining measures recommended by the RCI in order to arrest the decline of public confidence in the agency, Zulkifli said.
“The image of the RMP has taken a serious battering following the few recent incidents that cast doubt over the integrity of its senior officers in particular and the Force as a whole.
“Patriot urges the RMP to seriously address this issue in order for it to regain the public confidence.”
In September last year, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced that Putrajaya will form the IPCMC to replace the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) that had been introduced as a compromise after the police resisted the formation of the commission.
Unlike when the commission was first mooted after the 2005 RCI, however, the police this time accepted the announcement and even lauded it, with Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Noor Rashid Ibrahim saying it would enhance the agency’s integrity and capabilities.
The final form of the IPCMC is still unknown as the government has yet to table the Bill for its formation.
Groups such as the Malaysian Bar have urged the government to prioritise forming the IPCMC while others such as Human Rights Commission have told it not to present a diluted version and to simply propose the commission in the form envisioned by the 2005 royal inquiry.
