Why must Barisan Nasional and UMNO have to make sure that every single Commission has some connections to them?
I know that it is a stupid question but I hope you folks out there would go out and think real deep about this. I really feel sorry for those fools that had voted for them over and over again in past elections.
‘Siapa yang bodoh sebenarnya?’ Tell me, who are the real idiots now?
Anyhow, I would like to thank SUARAM Dot Net for making this possible today. SUARAM is much better than those pathetic SUHAKAM. Way to go SUARAM! Keep it up!
SUARAM views with utter disappointment, the Special Complaints Commission bill tabled in Parliament yesterday (13 December 2007) in place of the promised and long-awaited Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC). The Special Complaints Commission, in our view, is a much watered-down complaints mechanism to deal with police misconduct and abuse of powers.
It is highly unacceptable that the government took such a long time to come up with such a disappointing proposal. The Royal Police Commission in its report had set May 2006 as the deadline for the setting up of the IPCMC. Not only has the government failed to meet the deadline, one and a half years later, it has come up with a proposal that falls way short of the recommendations of the Royal Police Commission in 2005.
The proposed composition of members in the Special Complaints Commission raises serious questions regarding its independence. It will consist of seven members, comprising a chairman appointed by the Prime Minister, the Inspector-General of Police, the Director-General of the Public Complaints Bureau, the Director-General of the Anti-Corruption Agency and three other members appointed by the Prime Minister. As this commission is aimed at dealing with the misconduct and abuse of powers by enforcement agencies officers, the composition of members from the very same enforcement agencies in the proposed commission seriously undermines the independence of this body. This is against the recommendations made by the Royal Police Commission that commissioners of the IPCMC shall not be from amongst current or former members of the police force.
The proposed Special Complaints Commission would also have an extremely limited role to only receive, inquire and investigate complaints in relation to the misconduct of enforcement agencies. It would not have powers to impose any punishments, as compared to the originally-recommended IPCMC.
Further, the aspect of corruption, a major problem in our country that has led to serious human rights violations and impunity, has been left out. In the past one year alone, a number of allegations of high-level corruption in the police force had surfaced, involving no less than the top-ranked and third highest-ranked police officers. With no mention about corruption in the Special Complaints Commission bill, the credibility of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi who had pledged to combat corruption remains in serious doubt.
Clearly, the Special Complaints Commission bill, if passed, will see the setting up of yet another commission merely for the purposes of window-dressing the deeply-rooted problems in the police force. It will not resolve the myriad of problems in the police force which have led to the public’s high distrust towards the force.
With the government’s proposal of this watered-down complaints commission, it is now clear that Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi’s pledges to reform the police force and to combat corruption are merely empty promises.
SUARAM demands that the government take the Royal Police Commission’s recommendations seriously. The government must stand by its words and demonstrate its seriousness in reforming the police force. By setting up the Special Complaints Commission with questionable independence and an extremely limited role, serious human rights abuses and impunity will continue to be rampant in the country. To resolve these issues and to restore public confidence in the police force, nothing less than a full-fledged IPCMC as recommended by the Royal Police Commission will do.
Released by
John Liu
Coordinator
It is highly unacceptable that the government took such a long time to come up with such a disappointing proposal. The Royal Police Commission in its report had set May 2006 as the deadline for the setting up of the IPCMC. Not only has the government failed to meet the deadline, one and a half years later, it has come up with a proposal that falls way short of the recommendations of the Royal Police Commission in 2005.
The proposed composition of members in the Special Complaints Commission raises serious questions regarding its independence. It will consist of seven members, comprising a chairman appointed by the Prime Minister, the Inspector-General of Police, the Director-General of the Public Complaints Bureau, the Director-General of the Anti-Corruption Agency and three other members appointed by the Prime Minister. As this commission is aimed at dealing with the misconduct and abuse of powers by enforcement agencies officers, the composition of members from the very same enforcement agencies in the proposed commission seriously undermines the independence of this body. This is against the recommendations made by the Royal Police Commission that commissioners of the IPCMC shall not be from amongst current or former members of the police force.
The proposed Special Complaints Commission would also have an extremely limited role to only receive, inquire and investigate complaints in relation to the misconduct of enforcement agencies. It would not have powers to impose any punishments, as compared to the originally-recommended IPCMC.
Further, the aspect of corruption, a major problem in our country that has led to serious human rights violations and impunity, has been left out. In the past one year alone, a number of allegations of high-level corruption in the police force had surfaced, involving no less than the top-ranked and third highest-ranked police officers. With no mention about corruption in the Special Complaints Commission bill, the credibility of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi who had pledged to combat corruption remains in serious doubt.
Clearly, the Special Complaints Commission bill, if passed, will see the setting up of yet another commission merely for the purposes of window-dressing the deeply-rooted problems in the police force. It will not resolve the myriad of problems in the police force which have led to the public’s high distrust towards the force.
With the government’s proposal of this watered-down complaints commission, it is now clear that Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi’s pledges to reform the police force and to combat corruption are merely empty promises.
SUARAM demands that the government take the Royal Police Commission’s recommendations seriously. The government must stand by its words and demonstrate its seriousness in reforming the police force. By setting up the Special Complaints Commission with questionable independence and an extremely limited role, serious human rights abuses and impunity will continue to be rampant in the country. To resolve these issues and to restore public confidence in the police force, nothing less than a full-fledged IPCMC as recommended by the Royal Police Commission will do.
Released by
John Liu
Coordinator
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