'Standing orders for cops only, won't be made public'

PARLIAMENT The inspector-general of police standing orders, which among others outlines how the police are to deal with criminals will not be revealed to the public.

In a written reply to Kluang MP Liew Chin Tong (right), Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the standing orders are only for police use.

"PDRM (Royal Malaysian Police) disagrees to turn the standing orders as a subsidiary law under the Police Act 1967 that includes various codes of conduct.

"The standing orders are the procedures and trade-craft of conducting PDRM's duties. It is only for the use of members of PDRM," Zahid said.

He added that the current standing orders can only be accessed by members of the force through an internal system.

"PDRM will only reveal certain standing orders that have a direct relation to the public," he said.

The police have been urged to make public the standing orders following a series of fatal shootings by them, as well as death in custody cases.

'Government failed to act'
Making the standing orders public was among the recommendations of the commission to improve the police force that made its recommendations in 2005.

According to the reply, Zahid said 90 of the 125 recommendations have been implemented, 26 were in the process of being implemented, one is under study and eight others were rejected.

In an immediate response, Liew said the government had failed to address the recommendations in detail despite more than eight years having passed since they were made.

"Most the recommendations were only executed superficially," he said.

Liew said a white paper should be presented to Parliament by the Home Ministry on the status of the 125 recommendations. 

He reiterated that the police should be a "police service" instead of a "police force" as recommended by the commission.