The IGP is asking the public for ideas on how to curb crime but first the police have to put their house in order.
The nations’ top cop Ismail Omar is seeking ideas from the public on ways to bring the crime rate down.
He said the 26 police initiatives under the National Key Result Area had shown some positive results, with the people themselves asking the police how they could help to reduce crime.
“This means they are more focused and willing to cooperate with the police for public safety,” he said, adding that the success of the initiatives had placed Malaysia 19th in ranking out of 153,” Ismail said.
But this call from the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) comes against the grain considering the track record of the police.
Even those at the very top are given to abuse. The former IGP Rahim Noor being one. After giving former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim a black eye in 1998 , he went on to say that Anwar was safe and sound in police custody.
Rahim received “support” from former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad who had the audacity to suggest that Anwar’s injuries were self-inflicted.
Abuse meted out by the cops against the lay person still persists – be it deaths in detentions, rape, nude squats and molest of woman in custody and physical and mental torture of detainees.
On May 26 this year, FMT reported that a 20-year-old student, S Ganesan, claimed he was beaten up and verbally abused by the police after he knocked into a policeman’s motorcycle at a roadblock in Rembau, Negri Sembilan, in the early hours of the morning.
“The policeman kept beating me and called me ‘keling’. They also shouted at me, saying I should just die so that they can close the case,” Ganesan was quoted by FMT as saying.
The youngster was then warned not to report the matter before he was bundled into an ambulance and despatched to the Tunku Jaafar Hospital.
Before turning to the public for suggestions, Ismail has to work at winning back the public’s trust in the police force.
For that to happen, the image of the police has to improve. But the police are at the mercy of the higher-ups.
IPCMC discarded
That explains why the federal government has aggressively refused to put in place the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).
In 2005, a 634-page report by the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the police force, headed by a former judge, revealed that the police were brutal, inept and the most corrupt among the government departments.
Between 1999 and 2003, there were 5,726 formal corruption complaints involving the police force and it was recommended that the police force be monitored by an independent watchdog.
According to a non-governmental organisation, Aastivaram Foundation, between 2003 and 2007, there were 85 custodial deaths. This number excluded those who were shot dead.
“The commission is long overdue. Currently, the police themselves investigate cases of police abuse and I believe they tend to cover up such cases,” the foundation’s vice-president R Sanjeevan had informed FMT.
Earlier in the year, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein confirmed that the IPCMC was not welcomed as it was deemed not helpful in resolving police abuse cases.
Just how did Hishammuddin arrive at this conclusion? It is certain that “someone” out there has much to lose should the commission take shape.
Bad cops must be punished
On June 18, 2008, a cop on duty at the Putra Heights (in Subang Jaya) police station raped a woman pillion rider after detaining her boyfriend at the police station for riding the motorbike without a licence. The 17-year-old girl gathered all her courage to take the perpetrator to court.
This year, the police once again made news for all the wrong reasons when they forced female Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) activists who were detained to undress in the presence of male police officers.
Thirty-six of its activists were detained on June 25 this year while carrying out their “Udahlah Bersaralah” (Enough already, Retire Now) campaign in Perak, to remind Malaysians of the pitfalls of returning Barisan Nasional to power in the 13th general election.
Complaints of sexual misconduct by police were made by detainees in Kepala Batas, Penang and Ipoh, respectively, and PSM secretary-general S Arutchelvan said a police officer told them they needed six months to investigate the report.
Early this month, a 39-year-old finance accountant, who recently highlighted her plight of being allegedly molested by a group of 11 policemen seven years ago, found herself in the dock instead, with the charge being related to the incident that took place seven years ago.
Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak keeps harping on “People First” but Hishamuddin finds there is no reason to do so, through his refusal to accept the need for the IPCMC. This in no uncertain terms makes Hishammuddin party to all the wrongdoings carried out by the country’s police.
This year too, the police constable who beat up a 23-year-old suspected car thief, A Kugan while under police custody in 2009, was let off the hook by the court. It is said that “justice is blind” and in Kugan’s case it was never more true.
With so many misgivings, the police force has to first work very hard at redeeming its image in the eyes of the public and then turn to the public for help, not the other way round.
Ismail’s approach of putting the cart before the horse is only going to invite more trouble and for the sake of the people, he better realise his folly and do “first things first”.
After all, the Royal Malaysian Police’s motto is “Firm, Fair and Prudent” (Tegas, Adil dan Berhemah) and putting it into practice has been long overdue.
Jeswan Kaur is a freelance writer and a FMT columnist.
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