Cops not security guards, DAP tells Umno not their job to watch ballot papers

The Umno general assembly in 2010. - The Malaysian Insider pic.Umno should not treat police officers as "security guards" by asking them to watch over the ballot papers in the coming party polls, said DAP’S Steven Sim Chee Keong.

The Bukit Mertajam MP said in doing so, not only was Umno dragging the police force into politics but was also using government machinery for their political interests.

“Umno has deliberately politicised the police force to further its own political agenda. Umno’s years of abuse of the force also created a persistent culture of power abuse within the force,” he said in a statement today.

“It is no wonder that the Transparency International of Malaysia’s report in July stated the police force, along with political parties, were perceived to be the most corrupt institutions in the country.”

He said the police should be serving the people to ensure a crime-free environment and not serve the “narrow political interest” of the ruling party.

Sim was commenting on a Bernama report that police have been tasked to ensure that ballot papers would be safely distributed to all divisions.

Umno executive secretary Ab Rauf Yusof had said the 4 million ballot papers would be issued and that they would contain 18 security features, including UV watermarks.

Sim said the only way to stop such abuse was to heed the call of the Royal Commission’s report in 2005 to set up the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).

He also criticised Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s announcement that there would be an internal affairs board within the police force in response to the nationwide call for the IPCMC.

“Such a move is another insincere, half-baked attempt to pacify the public. By creating the internal affairs board, the government is in effect confessing to the problems in the police force which have long been highlighted," said Sim.