The Special Complaints Commission proposed in the bill tabled for first reading in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday is a totally different creature from the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) and the very negation of the independent external oversight agency for the police recommended by the Royal Police Commission.
No wonder the Chairman of the Royal Police Commission, Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah said yesterday that he was “very disappointed” as the proposed Special Complaints Commission was not what the Royal Police Commission had in mind. Dzaiddin described the Special Complaints Commission as “something entirely different from what we recommended”.
Another member of the Royal Police Commission, Tunku Abdul Aziz, former Transparency International Malaysia President, is also a disappointed man.
He said: “The whole purpose was to ensure that no only were the police protected against unfair criticism and allegations but also that there would be a return of public confidence in an organization that had lost it. If the new bill is watered down, obviously we are not going to achieve this purpose.”
How can the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and the Cabinet expect the 26 million Malaysians to have confidence in the proposed Special Complaints Commission when the leading lights of the Royal Police Commission like Tun Dzaiddin and Tunku Aziz are totally disgusted by the breach of faith and the complete watering-down of the IPCMC proposal to produce something quite nonsensical?
For instance, the Royal Police Commission had proposed that IPCMC commissioners should not be serving or former members of the police force. But the whole idea of an independent external oversight mechanism to ensure that police officers keep to the straight and narrow path of the law, steering clear of abuses of power and corrupt practices, was overturned with the proposal that the Inspector-General of Police is a permanent member of the seven-man Special Complaints Commission!
With the IGP as a permanent member of the Special Complaints Commission, how could the function of independent external oversight of the police from abuses of power and corruption be exercised?
Is the Prime Minister and Cabinet seriously suggesting that members of the public would have confidence to complain against top police officers or even against the IGP himself with the IGP as a member of the Special Complaints Commission?
On initial cursory reading of the Special Complaints Commission Bill, it not only falls far short of the IPCMC proposal of the Royal Police Commission, it is so weak and flawed that it is most unacceptable if the government is serious about wanting to create an efficient, accountable, incorruptible and professional world-class police service.