HUMAN rights group Eliminating Deaths and Abuse in Custody Together (Edict) has launched a signature campaign against the independent police conduct commission (IPCC) bill, which the group feels does not meet expectations on police reform.

Edict president M. Visvanathan said the IPCC does not provide any power to prosecute the guilty officer, adding that the government should scrap plans for the IPCC and revert to the independent police complaints and misconduct commission (IPCMC) bill drafted by the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) 16 years ago.

According to Visvanathan, the IPCC – which is supposed to reform the police – does not meet this expectation.

“They shouldn’t waste their time implementing the IPCC, instead they should implement the original version of the IPCMC.

He also said that he does not understand why the police are afraid of the IPCMC.

“If the police have done nothing wrong then they shouldn’t be worried about the implementation of the IPCMC.

“I am very sure if the IPCMC is implemented, we would have a much more respectable police force,” he said.

The IPCMC was proposed in 2005 to replace the enforcement agency integrity commission as a way to increase the police force’s transparency and accountability.

The bill was tabled for the first time in July 2019.

Then, in August last year, the Perikatan Nasional administration replaced the IPCMC bill with the IPCC bill.

The new police oversight board would be parked in the Home Ministry under the amended bill, allowing the home minister to monitor its work.

The IPCMC was supposed to be subject to the legal affairs division in the original plan. – December 9, 2021.