PUTRAJAYA’S postponement of the debate on the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) Bill today was based on the need for more fine-tuning to the legislation, which has faced massive pushback from the police force and opposition MPs.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Liew Vui Keong said it is better to work out all details on the bill, than to run into problems with implementation later on.

“The government feels there still is a need to fine-tune the bill even further and to enact rules with regards to proceedings involving public officials.

“This is important, if we want to implement the bill after it is approved,” he told reporters in the Parliament lobby today.

The bill was to have gone through second and third reading in Parliament today, and had even appeared in the order paper.

Just yesterday, Liew had also told the media that debate on the bill would be held today after the tabling of a report by the select committee for the consideration of bills about the IPCMC.

The committee’s report would look at 37 amendments proposed to the bill based on stakeholder consultation sessions.

However, Liew this morning announced in the house that the government was delaying the second and third readings of the bill.

As a result of the postponement, Speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof said there was no need for select committee chairman Ramkarpal Singh to proceed with tabling the report.

The postponement comes as a surprise as the select committee’s report and debate by MPs on the bill was highly anticipated today.

Ramkarpal also told the press that the select committee’s report had been ready since Wednesday, and that he was only informed this morning of the postponement.

To this, Liew said the postponement was not a last-minute decision.

“We have discussed with all groups, with the select committee chairman, with the cabinet and we made the decision that we need to continue discussions on the bill,” Liew said.

Among objections to the bill are concerns that an IPCMC would conflict with the role of the Police Force Commission in disciplining police officers.

However, the federal constitution allows Parliament to assign disciplinary control to another authority, in line with the constitution’s vision for separate accountability. – December 3, 2019.