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Monday, July 15, 2013

PMO: Strengthen, not replace, EAIC

The Prime Minister’s Department admits that EAIC is not enough, but says it should be strengthened, instead of replaced with the IPCMC.
KUALA LUMPUR: Instead of an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commissions (IPCMC), the government should look into strengthening the existing Enforcement Agencies Integrity Commission (EAIC), the Prime Minister’s Department said today.
Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Razali Ibrahim said that setting up a commission to look into just one enforcement body was unnecessary, given that the EAIC already existed to oversee 19 bodies, including the police force.
But the Muar MP conceded that the EAIC was understaffed and under-budget, and the government needed to amend this.
“With sufficient officers, investigators, and budget, the EAIC can contribute to [lowering cases of deaths in custody],” he said in response to a question from Kota Raja MP Siti Mariah Mahmud.
He pointed out that compared to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) 2,500 strong staff and budget of RM271 million, EAIC only had 27 staff and a budget of RM7.7 million.
“EAIC has six investigating officers; MACC has 450. In June, the government decided to add 49 more to the staff, but maintained the budget of RM7.7 million.
“So to me, if we are serious about this issue – this has nothing to do with deaths [in custody], or the EAIC, or the IPCMC – we should strengthen the EAIC,” said Razali during the question session in Parliament.
Siti Mariah had earlier asked why the government was “stubbornly” refusing to set up an IPCMC, in the face of public pressure and a sharp rise of custodial deaths.
“The EAC oversees 19 agencies – this is too many. We can see that MIC, MCA, Gerakan, Pakatan Rakyat and even civil society or calling for the EAIC to be replaced with the IPCMC.
“The whole country wants the EAIC replaced, except the Cabinet and Umno,” she claimed.
But Razali pointed out that should the EAIC be replaced with the IPCMC, per Siti’s suggestion, the other 18 agencies would be left in the lurch.
He also said that since its inception in 2009, the EAIC had managed to solve 50 cases of public complaints, while another 115 were still in the investigation stage.
“EAIC has received 469 complaints, 233 have been investigated, another 190 were rejected.”
Custodial deaths
There have been eight deaths in police custody this year. Security guard P Karunanithi was found dead at the Tampin police headquarters on June 1. The post mortem revealed 49 bruises on Karunanithi’s remains.
On May 21, Indah Water employee N Dhamendran was found dead at the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters.
Although the police claimed he died from an asthma attack, a post mortem report revealed he was beaten to death, due to the presence of multiple injuries on his body.
On June 26, High Court judge VT Singham ruled that the current Inspector General of Police was responsible for the death of detainee A Kugan, in a civil suit filed by Kugan’s mother.
In the landmark judgment, the now retired judge also said Khalid Abu Bakar had suppressed evidence during the trial.
Singham had also said in his judgment that there was a need to consider introducing the IPCMC given the influx of custodial deaths.
“The recommendation by a Royal Commission should not be kept in cold storage but must be activated as soon as possible for the public to feel assured that an independent agency was looking into such matters,” he had said.

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