THE Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) must live up to the “independent” in its name to preserve its integrity and impartiality, said human rights groups.

Home Minister Hamzah Zainuddin yesterday announced that the IPCMC bill would be replaced by the Independent Police Conduct Commission bill, which he would table in the Dewan Rakyat on August 26. He proposed put the reconfigured agency under his ministry’s purview.

Society for the Promotion of Human Rights (Proham) and Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) slammed the move, which they said would compromise the impartiality of the body intended to investigate complaints about the police.

They said the decision undermined the stakeholders’ efforts to set up the IPCMC.

The IPCMC was intended to improve the police force and address the key concerns of police misconduct and safeguard police welfare, they said.

“As Proham has repeatedly called, the IPCMC should be an independent body that will be established pursuant to an act of parliament. In relation to this, Proham cannot agree with the home minister’s proposal to put the IPCMC under the purview of the Home Ministry,” Proham said in a statement.

“Simply put, as much we appreciate the good work of PDRM, the police cannot police themselves.”

Suaram executive director Sevan Doraisamy said the IPCMC was not a law introduced on a whimsy.

He ssaid it was a key element in the proposal of a 2005 royal commission of inquiry to improve the force, check police misconduct and safeguard its welfare.

“The suggestion by the minister that the bill will be placed under the Ministry of Home Affairs is absurd and unacceptable. Placing IPCMC under the Ministry of Home Affairs will only compound the existing failure of the ministry and defeat the whole purpose of the IPCMC.”

Meanwhile, Citizen Action Group on Enforced Disappearance spokesman Rama Ramanathan slammed Umno’s Mohamed Nazri Aziz for calling the government to scrap the IPCMC bill.

Rama asked the former minister to recall the force’s failure to punish many of its members found guilty by the court for breaking the law.

Rama cited an incident involving Syed Mohd Azlan who was detained in 2014 for allegedly possessing a firearm.

Azlan died in custody four hours after his arrest. An autopsy showed he had sustained 61 bruises on his body.

“The key issue is that PDRM has repeatedly shown it cannot investigate itself effectively. After JIPS’ outrageous conclusion that no misconduct was involved, the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) stepped in and quickly found evidence of misconduct. Finally, in December last year, the High Court, in Johor Bhru agreed that actions and omissions of the police resulted in the death of Syed Azlan.”

“The High Court awarded damages, costs and interest amounting to over half a million ringgit. The government did not appeal. Yet, six years on, no police officer is known to have been disciplined in the Syed Azlan case. In fact, the leader of the arrest party was promoted while he was facing charges in court. Since Syed Azlan’s death, more than 60 people have died in police lock-up alone.”

“Can Nazri please tell us how often disciplinary action has been taken against police officers in these cases of death in custody,” Rama said.

Rama added that due to the police’s lack of integrity, it was no longer respected by the people.

“People no longer treat the police with respect. Police officers make great sacrifices to protect us. Their reputation deserves to be improved. It can only be improved if investigations of allegations of misconduct are handled by an independent authority.”

“This is why we need an independent commission. Why do politicians like Nazri refuse to take actions to restore the dignity of police men and women who sacrifice so much for us,” Rama asked.

Nazri said yesterday that the IPCMC bill should be discarded as it was never on the Perikatan Nasional agenda.

The former tourism minister said it was Pakatan Harapan’s idea to set up the IPCMC, which Barisan Nasional had opposed because it was unfair to the police. – August 12, 2020.