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Do we really need the IPCMC?

― Nicholas Chan
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 05, 2013

JUNE 5 ― The Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) recently rose to infamy due to the occurrence of a slew of death in custody cases in Malaysia, once again rallying public outcry for the setting up of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC). Minister in charge of Integrity and Corruption Paul Low was quick to tout the EAIC as if it were the IPCMC we never had, reportedly saying we don’t need another independent police oversight body because the EAIC is actually the IPCMC.

This is a gross mistruth as the powers of the EAIC and the IPCMC as mooted by the Royal Commission chaired by former Chief Justice Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah are different. The truth is, the EAIC is more of a watered down version of the IPCMC, a “reform” legacy that is kindly attributed to the retired Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, although by the time the legislation that enables the Commission to be form is gazetted, he had already stepped down.

No doubt both Commissions are mooted for the same vision of curbing police misconduct and upholding their accountability towards the public, Dzaiddin’s version of it speaks more drastically of the need to keep our police force in check as the Royal Commission report had described the force as “brutal, inept and the most corrupt among the government departments”. Continue reading “Do we really need the IPCMC?”

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Utusan Malaysia stands head and shoulders above all media, not only in Malaysia but worldwide, as champion serial liar as the centrepiece of the well-funded DDD Brigade to demolish and destroy DAP

I must congratulate the editorial chiefs of Utusan Malaysia – the official mouthpiece of UMNO – for achieving something no other media in Malaysia could ever achieve. In fact, it will not be easy to find international competitors for Utusan Malaysia in the whole wide world of global journalism.

Undoubtedly, Utusan Malaysia stands head and shoulders above all media, not only in Malaysia but world-wide, as the champion serial liar as the centrepiece of the Demolish/Destroy DAP (DDD) Brigade in the 13GE.

During the past eight months it was the centrepiece of the DDD Brigade, Utusan Malaysia outdid itself in the volume, venom and venality of the lies and falsehoods it had been spewing in the past – like the front-page Utusan Malaysia lie in May 2011 that DAP wanted to create a Christian Malaysia!

But as the centrepiece of the DDD Brigade to demolish and destroy the DAP, Utusan Malaysia had broken all records in the number and viciousness of the lies and falsehoods it had packed into the Utusan pages (as well as New Straits Times, Berita Harian and Star) in the past eight months.

For this malevolent objective, Utusan has recruited and trained an army of serial liars, who are prepared to tell lies without batting an eyelid – even from the aristocratic rank! Continue reading “Utusan Malaysia stands head and shoulders above all media, not only in Malaysia but worldwide, as champion serial liar as the centrepiece of the well-funded DDD Brigade to demolish and destroy DAP”

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DAP has every reason to be very afraid

Malaysiakini
9:52AM Jun 5, 2013

YOURSAY ‘Asking why is DAP so scared of deregistration is akin to asking an Indian why he is scared of being killed in a police lock-up.’

Zahid: Why is DAP so scared of deregistration?

Hello: Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi claims the government is not threatening DAP with de-registration, but his methodology implies he is about to do so.

DAP has every right to be afraid, not because of the threatened de-registration, but the abuse of the investigation procedures in the manner the Registrar of Societies (ROS) is going about it. Continue reading “DAP has every reason to be very afraid”

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Will the Cabinet today decide or dilly-dally on IPCMC?

All eyes are on the Cabinet this morning – will the Cabinet decide or dilly-dally on the issue of an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC)?

The issue of IPCMC was first proposed by the Dzaiddin Royal Royal Police Commission eight years ago in 2005 as the most important of its 125 recommendations to create an efficient, incorruptible, professional and world-class police force, with even the Prime Minister at the time, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi publicly pledging to implement the IPCMC recommendation.

It was the then UMNO Youth leader, Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein, who later became Home Minister, who led the opposition to the establishment of the IPCMC, teaming up with the then police leadership to force Abdullah to backtrack and finally scuttle the IPCMC proposal. Instead an ineffective Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) was substituted.

Did the new Home Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi, who was a Deputy Minister in the first Abdullah administration 2004-2008, support or oppose the IPCMC at the time.

The IPCMC was one effective proposal to address the high rate of deaths in police custody, with 80 cases from January 2000 to December 2004, or an annual average of 16 deaths in police custody in those five years – which was regarded as unacceptably high.

Unfortunately, the scandal of deaths in police custody have worsened after the Dzaiddin Report. The rate of deaths in police custody has increased albeit slightly in the eight and a half years since the IPCMC Report – with 141 deaths from January 2005 to May 2013 (with three deaths in just 11 days in the first month after the 13th general elections on May 5) or a higher annual average of 16.6 deaths since the Dzaiddin RCI report. Continue reading “Will the Cabinet today decide or dilly-dally on IPCMC?”

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Are the police exempt from the law?

P Ramakrishnan
Aliran
4 June 2013

Hardcore criminals are treated harshly as they should be according to the law. The full force of the law lands on them mercilessly. This is not only to punish them as they deserve to be but also to serve as a deterrent to would be criminals.

But why then does the same law fail to act against hardcore police criminals who cause death in custody? Why doesn’t the law land on them as determinedly as it does when it concerns citizens?

This selective action definitely demoralises the public and causes loss of confidence in the police. Malaysians ask with justification whether the police are a law unto themselves? Why does the long arm of the law fail to haul them up and punish them without any reservation when they are guilty of heinous crimes?

The mounting deaths under troubling circumstances are a source of worry to all law-respecting Malaysians, who are devastated that Indian Malaysian detainees, according to their perception, are dying like flies in the lockups. This perception is not without justification when facts are viewed objectively. Within 11 days three Indians have died in police custody under circumstances requiring no less than a Royal Commission of Inquiry to get to the bottom of these worrying deaths. Continue reading “Are the police exempt from the law?”

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It has started – or has it not?

The Writest Thing by Mohsin Abdullah
fz.com
Jun 04, 2013

OUT of the blue, Johor Umno leader Datuk Puad Zarkashi came up and said the two top posts in Umno should not be contested when the party holds its elections later this year.

The call by Puad was carried by Umno-linked newspaper Berita Harian. And the former minister gave all the whys.

That call raised many an eyebrow. Was there any talk of contest for the top two posts in the first place, to warrant Puad to come up with such a call?

And as if right on cue, a few days after Puad’s call, Negeri Sembilan Umno passed a no contest resolution for the post of president and deputy president. The reason being to strengthen Umno in preparation for GE14.

Of course, post-GE13 talk has been centred on Datuk Seri Najib Razak – whether he would be “safe” to continue as Umno president and PM. Whether he would be challenged in Umno polls.

Meanwhile, Najib himself is open to being challenged, saying: “We are a democratic party – we have to accept Umno’s openness unlike certain other parties.” Continue reading “It has started – or has it not?”

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Dr M: Umno attracting fewer talented leaders

by Sean Augustin
fz.com
Jun 04, 2013

Umno’s decreasing capable leaders have had negative consequences on the party and the government, writes former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad in his blog.

In a critical blog posting entitled Umno, then and now, the former prime minister said that unlike in the past, the party attracts fewer selfless and capable leaders, who instead tended to join its political rivals.

This, he said, resulted in fewer eligible candidates in a general election, while promising members fielded as parachute candidates for seats would be defeated.

Mahathir said the impact of having fewer talented people in the party was that it leads to a government made up of incapable people.

He said current leaders, from the division leaders up, are reluctant to allow new talents to come in, fearing they could pose a threat to their positions. Continue reading “Dr M: Umno attracting fewer talented leaders”