Law minister: IPCMC Bill, scheduled for first reading in Parliament, to be retracted, replaced

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 19 ― The government will be retracting the Independent Police Complaints of Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) Bill, which was originally scheduled for its first tabling on August 26, de facto law minister Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan has confirmed.

Takiyuddin said that the new Bill would have a different name and “have a slightly different function”

“IPCMC Bill will be retracted and replaced with a new Bill which will have the same meaning, but which has been amended,” he told reporters here.

“August 26 we will retract it, and on August 26 itself we will table the new Bill,” he added.

Takiyuddin said that the new Bill will be tabled by the Home Ministry.

He added that some of the IPCMC Bill’s content was not agreed to by the police, which led to the government agreeing to retract it.

“Cabinet already approved,” he added.

The IPCMC Bill 2019 was tabled for the first reading in the last Dewan Rakyat session in July last year, but the Bill was referred to the Special Select Committee for further discussion when it came up for its second reading last October.

The IPCMC seeks to replace the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) in efforts to enhance the integrity and capabilities of the police force and will act as an independent monitoring body to receive complaints and conduct investigations into misconduct involving police personnel.

Then minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of law affairs, Datuk Liew Vui Keong said the reading of the Bill needed to be postponed to enable it to be improved.

He said the move to refine the Bill was necessary to facilitate the implementation of the law when it was passed and to avoid any unwanted issues from arising.  

The Bill is to set up the IPCMC and state its functions and powers, as well as what kind of complaints regarding the police would be handled and how these complaints would be investigated, and disciplinary proceedings to deal with misconduct and the punishments that can be meted out on errant police personnel.

The Bill lists five functions that the IPCMC will have, namely to promote integrity within the police force as well as to advise the government and recommend measures for such promotion of integrity; to protect public interest by dealing with police misconduct; to formulate and put in place mechanisms for the detection, investigation and prevention of police misconduct; and to “exercise disciplinary control” over the police.

The IPCMC is to have 10 appointed members at maximum — including a chairman and deputy chairman, but with the condition that none of them is a current or former police personnel or a public servant.