A FORMER anti-graft agency chief said politicians’ “sad excuses” hampered the implementation of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).

Ex-Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief, Abu Kassim Mohamed, said if the IPCMC had been put in place, it would have resulted in a respectable police force. 

“I’ll be blunt about the fears politicians had over the IPCMC. And the excuses they offered were woeful,” he said at a webinar organised by Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) last night.

However, he did not go in-depth about the said excuses.  

He said that the IPCMC would be able to bring about political and enforcement improvements.

He stated this when questioned about the difficulties he had in executing the National Anti-Corruption Plan, which was launched in 2019. 

The IPCMC was proposed in 2005 to replace the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission as a way to increase the police force’s openness and accountability.

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

In August last year, the Perikatan Nasional administration replaced the IPCMC Bill with the Independent Police Conduct Commission (IPCC) Bill.

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

The IPCMC was supposed to be under the legal affairs division in the original plan. – September 16, 2021.