A Good Police Force, Only With IPCMC In Place

The Enforcement Agencies Integrity Commission (EAIC) has already failed, even prior to its inception because they lack of the necessary funding and manpower to work out its roles and responsibilities for the public. Besides, having the EAIC directly under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister's Department (PMD) has in fact put the integrity commission in a way that it has been seen as not independent and has no power to act on its own because EAIC is only a sub-department under the PMD hierarchy.

Apart from that, the  EAIC's oversight responsibilities covers about 19 different enforcement agencies nationwide, plus some sub-enforcement units within certain government departments and agencies. Asides, EAIC also did not possess the prosecuting and enforcement powers to enable the commission to demand for the hearing of a reported case and all the subjects of the integrity in question to be summoned for a case hearing session without fail.

The other issue is, who will effectively oversee the performance of the EAIC independently? Would all of us expect the people in PMD to do it? Are there any transparency in vetting the activities of the EAIC? No, not at all. Even if the PMD or EAIC were to affirm that they carried out their roles and responsibilities in a transparent manner, then who would vet them to confirm the situation? The prime minister would definitely say that all departments and agencies under his PMD had performed outstandingly every year. Then case close! That's it. Would you expect us to believe all those "positive" reporting?

So, by what kind of justification that the PMD and the EAIC itself would say that the integrity commission has an outstanding performance every year? Where are the track records? How many cases have they solve with both parties having satisfied with the outcome? Where are the records and subject matters of these cases of which the EAIC had investigated and settled? Shouldn't all these are supposed to be published in their website?

The EAIC chairman, Datuk Heliliah Mohd Yusof cannot just simply mention "the opposition will always criticise us" to our people and the entire nation by not providing any evidence of their track records or whatever they are doing. Come on! Do they need us to remind them that EAIC is of public interest and not only serving the interests of the prime minister, the government and the ruling BN coalition?

Yes, we all knew that all the powers vested on the EAIC are mentioned therein in the Act which incorporated the integrity commission in 2009. Has the EAIC use all those powers to act for and on behalf of the public in getting to the bottom on all the cases which they have undertook? Did EAIC have the sufficient funding in order for them to operate beyond the borders of Putrajaya? Why EAIC has only one investigator as at today instead of the allocated six in total in the beginning? Why has EAIC got to wait for a report to be lodge, only then they would act on those cases highlights?

The police force, as we all see, is currently the largest and most complex law enforcement agency in this nation bearing a very complicated chain of command within its force. It has been known to the general public that the various wrongdoings, corruptions, power abuses, mismanagement, police brutality and now custodial deaths has been rampant in the force decades ago. It is not reducing but increasing now. So, why didn't EAIC step into the police force in the first place to check what went wrong? Nobody lodge the report?

Asides, in many occasion, the police force is also always seen to be used by the government to get rid of the opposition parties leaders by making frequent arrests, threatening arrests or retributions, restricting public opinion, restricting civil activities, imposing unnecessary blockade to curb public dissent, putting up surveillance against the will of our people and many more. The government has effectively turned the police force into what we would call, the political police to fight its political opponent instead of combating crime and ensuring public safety.

Crime rates are on the rise. Did you remember, the minute the prime minister Najib Razak declared that the entire nation is safe under his leadership, a group of armed robbers when into a residence in the brought daylight to rob off the valuables of the house owner, including one of the owner's cars. Well, we would say Najib is the the most secured person in our nation because he has hundreds of bodyguards surrounding his Istana Seri Perdana as well as his office, not us at all. We have no confidence in our safety at all to-date.

That is why we need the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) to be established, under the jurisdiction and scrutiny of the parliament, only then the said oversight commission would be able to  perform effectively.

The other nations too have such police oversight commission, and what we could see today these nations' police force are the best in the world. Examples are Hong Kong (Independent Police Complaints Council - IPCC), United Kingdom (Independent Police Complaints Commission - IPCC), Canada ( Commission for Public Complaints Against the Royal Canadian Mounted Police), Australia's two kinds of provincial-based Police Integrity Commissions (New South Wales, Queensland, West Australia states), Police Complaints Authorities (South Australia and Victoria states) and New Zealand (Independent Police Conduct Authority - IPCA).

All the police oversight commissions and authorities of these nations are put under the direct jurisdiction of the parliament or state legislative assemblies where they would report their activities to the parliamentarians and provincial legislators on regular basis for scrutiny and auditing. This is what we would call transparent oversight on the police force. That is why the people of these nations are proud of their police force for their outstanding performances or achievements on the assurance of the safety and security of the public.

We are again asking EAIC and Datuk Heliliah, what has EAIC done for our people so far? EAIC is not new. EAIC has been established since 2009. What are the most achieved cases or subjects that had brought about the good name of the EAIC so far? Is EAIC currently opened for public and legislature scrutinies? What about your annual report, do you have one?

Therefore, we are repeating our demand, it is reasonable, already considered a public call, an outcry and the call has also gained an international relevance (following the death of a Japanese). The IPCMC has to be in place in order to focus solely on the police force. The police force of our nation is huge and complicated, both physically and in their organisational chain of command. That is why, the IPCMC is very much required in order to address the increasing problems and challenges that the police force are facing today.

We did not demand for the dissolution of the EAIC. The EAIC can continue to focus on its oversight roles and responsibilities onto the various enforcement agencies or enforcement sub-units nationwide, while the IPCMC should remain as the sole oversight commission to tackle the various complex and complicated police force.

The government should listen to our people. Listening to our people does not mean you lose your face. Where is the "peoples first, performance now" pledge made by the government five years ago?