Prime Minister must take a clear and decisive stand in Parliament on Monday to establish the IPCMC to keep faith with his reform pledge and programme and restore public confidence that he has not abandoned or compromised his commitment of reform

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Media Statement
by Lim Kit Siang  
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(Ipoh, Friday) The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi  must take a clear and decisive stand in Parliament on Monday to establish the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC)  to keep faith with his reform pledge and programme and restore public confidence that he has not abandoned or compromised his commitment for reform.

This is because the police and IPCMC will be the focus of Parliament when it reconvened on Monday for a 14-day meeting till July 18.

The second question during the 90-minute question-time on Monday will be my query to the Prime Minister, asking him for an “update on the progress of Attorney-General’s study on the proposal to set up IPCMC and whether the government is still keeping its promise to establish IPCMC to create a world class police force”.

Abdullah should dispel all impression that on the IPCMC issue he had “passed the buck” to the Attorney-General, when as  the chief law officer of government, the Attorney-General’s role is purely advisory  and has no policy-making function.

Abdullah should make it crystal clear on Monday that whether the IPCMC is set up is a policy  question for  the Prime Minister, Cabinet and Parliament to decide and not the Attorney-General. 

He should not buckle down to threats or pressures whether from the Police or from a handful of UMNO MPs and even Ministers who had been suborned by the Police to go against the public and national interest to have a IPCMC.

On Monday, I will also move an adjournment motion on “Police insubordination, indiscipline and defiance of Cabinet government and parliamentary democracy”.

I will refer to the posting on the official police website outlinining protests and retaliatory actions which police could resort to if the key proposal of the Royal Police Commission for the establishment of the IPCMC is implemented – which is the latest in a recent catagloue of police insubordination, indiscipline and defiance of Cabinet government and parliamentary authority.

Posted on the police website  was a12-point proposal as to what the police could do in protest against the establishment of IPCMC, viz:

a. Sentimen marah dan sedih dibayangkan melalui SMS dan telefon yang diterima dari setiap peringkat dari seluruh negara.

b. Kerja mengikut masa.

c. Menolak elaun RM100 dan menuntut kerja 5 hari seminggu, 8 jam sehari seperti mana lain-lain kakitangan awam.

d. Melaksanakan ‘core business’ sahaja – menghakis semangat bersedia berkhidmat.

e. Mengundi pembangkang pada tahun 2008.

f. Meminta pembangkang memperjuangkan hak Polis di Parlimen.

g. Menuntut pucuk pimpinan Exco Persatuan (Persatuan Pegawai-Pegawai Kanan Polis Yang Diwartakan – PPKP/CPW)  meletakkan jawatan kerana gagal memperjuangkan kepentingan ahli.

h. Menuntut pucuk pimpinan PDRM meletakkan jawatan.

i. Biar jenayah naik.

j. Pegawai penyiasat meletak jawatan beramai-ramai.

k. Kecewa, Polis sahaja dijadikan sasaran walaupun terdapat kelemahan lain-lain agensi Kerajaan.

l. Kecewa kerana KKDN berdiam diri.

The Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Mohd Bakri Omar had tried to make light of the anti-IPCMC material appearing on the Royal Malaysian Police website, claiming it was an  ‘inadvertent’ act as he had consented to its  publication as an internal  booklet only to  be distributed among the police personnel.

The IGP had compounded the police revolt and challenge  of Cabinet and parliamentary authority, as the greatest offence are the contents while its publication on the official police website is a secondary issue.

Such deviation  from and compromising the  police role as the impartial, professional and non-political upholder of law and order is completely unacceptable.

(23/06/2006)