Indira and Ong are reminders of why we need IPCMC

“The road to justice is paved with the defiance of those who refuse to accept the status quo.” – Frank Serpico

Recent public statements by M Indira Gandhi and Ong Ing Keong are further evidence (as if anyone needed more) that this country is desperately in need of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).

Both statements are not only damaging to the state security apparatus but more importantly to the political class which has enabled, coddled and sanctioned the well-documented excesses of the state security apparatus.

For over a decade, the police have done everything in their power by their inaction to keep Indira’s child away from her and have legitimised the action of a child kidnapper through their own action or inaction.

Think about this for a moment. The state security apparatus has ignored judgments from the judicial branch and has let a child kidnapper escape the course of justice.

M Indira Gandhi

And why do you think this is? Well, because they understand that the only people who could sanction such behaviour, the political class, would do no such thing.

In other words, they understand that they are free from the repercussions that the ordinary rakyat are subject to if they break the law. It is as simple as that.

Harapan’s broken promise

Ong’s case, on the other hand, is a flashpoint for the ordinary rakyat because not only does it involve an alleged cover-up by the police but it also implies the complicity of various state actors and the royal institution, which of course has a rich history when it comes to the tension between the royalty and political class of this country.

Of course, the rakyat are told not to speculate when it comes to this issue and everything else for that matter but as former MACC commissioner Latheefa Koya said in the Ong presser - “There are too many contradictory statements coming out claiming that the matter is settled at one point, saying that he wants to move on. But you can hear directly from him today that he wants justice. He’s not happy with what has happened to him.”

Ong Ing Keong

But I do not blame Umno/BN for this failure of not establishing an IPCMC. The failure is squarely on the shoulders of the Pakatan Harapan regime because they have campaigned on this issue and have made it an important principle in their supposed quest for a more just Malaysia Baru.

Nobody expects this to be an Umno/BN issue (and it never was) because as demonstrated by none other than the current Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi when it comes to the malfeasances of the state security apparatus, he is willing to whitewash even the most egregious of offences.

And forget about the opposition Perikatan Nasional. What we now know of the leader of the opposition, is that he is ever willing to stack the deck with our boys, hence any form of independent oversight and institutional transparency would be anathema to him and his cohorts.

Keeping tabs on the royals

However, if you are looking for a reason from a prominent personality as to why we need an IPCMC we have to look no further than Johor Regent Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim.

In 2018, when Harapan came into power, the Johor crown prince claimed that he and his father were being monitored by the state security apparatus. He claimed that his phone was tapped and his movements were monitored. Not to mention cyber troopers stationed at his social media outlets to act when necessary.

“I don’t understand why my phone is bugged. I don’t understand why my movements are monitored by the Special Branch. I don't understand why they need a file about me or my father in Bukit Aman,” as reported in the press.

Johor Regent Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim

He also said that - “I know the former government used this but this is supposed to be ‘Malaysia Baru’ - it is no place for such practices any longer. It is not nice when officials come to me saying that my father, the Johor sultan and I are being monitored.”

Now, these of course are serious allegations, as serious as those made by the ordinary rakyat like Indira and Ong.

The best avenue to express those grievances besides the press, that is, would be an independent IPCMC, don’t you think? This way there would be transparency and accountability for every citizen including the state security apparatus.

But yet the political class does not want to carry out the people’s mandate. Why?

The political class, when in power, chooses to endorse the decades-long victimhood narrative of the state security apparatus when it comes to oversight, which should tell us everything we need to know about efforts to reform the police.

This is because having any kind of independent oversight would hamper the way how the state security apparatus and the political class interact.

We need an IPCMC and we may never get it but this does not mean we stop advocating for it. - Mkini

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S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.