Malaysian is a Forgetful Society - Part 2

Malaysian is a very forgetful society - Part 2

Where is the Independent Public Complaint and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) which is key to the Royal Police Commission’s recommendation on the No. 1 police priority to fight crime????????

Human Rights & Policing Action:Implement the Recommendations of the Royal Police Commission
Background

Royal Commission Established on 4 February 2004 .
The Royal Commission to Enhance the Operation and Management of the Royal Malaysia Police was established by the King on 4 February 2004 under the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1950.

Report submitted to PM on 29 April 2005, Publicly Released on 12 June 2005

In its 576-page report, submitted to the Prime Minister on 29 April, and which was publicly released on 12 June 2005, the Commission made 125 recommendations focusing on three main areas of reform - crime reduction, eradicating corruption and observing human rights in policing the country.

Among the key recommendations were:
· Establish an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) aimed at dealing with complaints regarding the police and seeking to improve the professionalism of the force and to ensure that doctrines, laws, rules and procedures are observed and implemented by the police.

The implementation process

Renewed Hope of the Public
The report renewed the hope of an independent, accountable and professional police in Malaysia. The public and concerned groups celebrated these recommendations and looked forward to their immediate implementation.

Task Forse Established
In June 2005, a Task Force headed by the Prime Minister was set up to study the Commission's report and to determine the order of priority in the implementation of the recommendations.

Unfortunately, until today, civil society and the public at large have been kept in a dark on the specific status of the various recommendations despite the clear and specific timelines set by the Commission.

There is also a major concern on lack of transparency in the process of implementing these recommendations. The lack of progress in implementing the Royal Commission’s recommendations especially the matters dealing with human rights is due to the lack of political will on the part of the Malaysian government.

In spite of these recommendations instances of police violence, abuse of power and human rights abuses continued as usual since the report of the Royal Commission were made public. Cases of death in custody, violent dispersal of peaceful demonstrators and other form of human rights violation continued to be reported.

Current Status : The Government Proposed a Special Complaints Commission Bill in Parliment instead of IPCMC

Disappointment

Amnesty International Malaysia Public Statement 14 December 2007

Table the IPCMC Bill, not the Special Complaints Commission Bill Amnesty International

Malaysia expresses grave disappointment over the tabled Special Complaints Commission Bill in Parliament instead of the IPCMC Bill proposed by the Royal Commission to Enhance the Operation and Management of the Royal Malaysia Police.

Why SCC will not work.

The new Bill in obvious terms defeats the true intention of the Royal Commission to improve the professionalism of the force and to ensure that doctrines, laws, rules and procedures are observed and implemented by the police.

The tabled Bill failed to address the fundamental need for a complaint mechanism to make the police be accountable to the public for their action or omission to act on public complaints. The Special Complaints Commission also lacks independence and powers to check and balance.

We are alarmed that the Special Complaints Commissions Bill intends to place the Inspector General of Police in the oversight governance structure. We are also concerned that the Special Complaints Commission has in fact no powers to conduct independent investigations into the police force – in effect, submissions will be redirected to the police to investigate complaints made against themselves.

The Royal Commission in its 2005 report emphasized that internal mechanisms currently governed by the police themselves are inadequate, unreliable and frequently ineffective. The IPCMC was therefore introduced to address this ineffectiveness and unreliability, and to introduce a more reliable mechanism to address complaints made against the police in a just, transparent and fair manner.

The Royal Commission saw this as a crucial way to improve much-needed public confidence in the policing system and to make the police force accountable to the public at large. The proposed Special Complaints Commission is redundant as the public will not have the confidence and trust to lodge a complaint against the police. Firstly, this is because the Commission is governed by the IGP, and this creates a conflict of interests. Secondly, the investigation procedure leads back to the police, which creates another conflict of interests. Therefore, we are of the opinion that any complaint made by the public on the police force will probably not attain proper justice in an impartial manner free from any element of collusion.

We are also disappointed with the Attorney-General’s Chambers for expressly and unilaterally defeating the intention and recommendation made by the Royal Commission.

We fear that the Special Complaints Commission is merely an internal oversight mechanism and we strongly urge the government to table and implement the IPCMC Bill to comprehensively supersede the current Special Complaints Commission Bill immediately.

Have Malaysian forgotten about the IPCMC?

: ( Malaysian is indeed a forgetful society......

Why is the recommendation of IPCMC changed to SCC?

When will it be implemented?

What does it takes to implement this?

How long does this need to wait?

Malaysia Blogger

Refer also

Malaysiakini

http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/36195
We want a truly independent police watchdog
Lone May 17, 05 1:54pm