THE government has deferred the contentious Independent Police Conduct Commission (IPCC) bill 2020 to the next session of Parliament, Deputy Home Minister Ismail Mohamed Said told House today.

“I move that the IPCC bill and several others that follow it be moved to the next meeting,” he said.

The new IPCC bill was tabled yesterday immediately after Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law) Takiyuddin Hassan withdrew the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) bill 2019.

The IPCMC bill was first tabled for its first reading by the then Pakatan Harapan government on July 18, 2019.

However, the then opposition bloc – consisting of Barisan Nasional, PAS and Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) – indicated that they would not support the IPCMC bill.

It had also met with resistance from the police, unhappy the proposed commission would be empowered officers.

The proposed IPCC bill has removed this power – Section 31(3) in the IPCMC bill – when dealing with police misconduct.

Also removed was Section 31(4), allowing the chief secretary to the government to set up a special disciplinary board to deal with complaints against the inspector-general of police. – August 27, 2020.