Nobody has ever punished the PDRM

Police business is a hell of a problem. It’s a good deal like politics. It asks for the highest type of men, and there’s nothing in it to attract the highest type of men. So we have to work with what we get.

- Raymond Chandler, The Lady in the Lake

Inspector-General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun's lament that it seemed like the Suhakam report on the kidnappings of activists Amir Che Mat and Pastor Raymond Koh was punishing the Royal Malaysian Police Force (PDRM) is predictable in its victimhood. 

The sad reality is that PDRM has been mired in corruption, violence and misinformation for as long as I can remember. The Suhakam report is just another reminder of how far the police have fallen in the eyes of the rakyat.

Nowhere is this more clear than in the infamous Copgate affair, where former Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Ramli Yusuff exposed the criminal underworld links between alleged mobster Goh Cheng Poh, or Tengku Goh, and the inspector-general of police then, Musa Hassan. Musa served as IGP from 2006 to 2010. This case points to the nexus between criminal enterprises, police collusions and political power

Here is an extract of the whole sordid affair. You can read the full article here.

“Tengku Goh is reportedly an underworld boss who enjoyed Musa's backing when Musa was Johor police chief.

"Musa was said to have eliminated all loan sharks, money-laundering syndicates, gaming and drug syndicates and crime lords in Johor, but allowed Tengku Goh to continue operating - until the Bukit Aman CCID found out about Goh's activities.

"As a result of this discovery, called the Copgate affair, Ramli and his men were instead hit with trumped-up charges by attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail, who was accused of colluding with the then police chief.”

Keep in mind this is the police force where two years ago Terengganu police chief Aidi Ismail claimed that there was no gangsterism in his state because “97 percent of the population are Malays and they still respect older people in their villages. They respect the village chief, imam and bilal. Such a way of life is an advantage that can prevent gangsterism-related crimes."

And let us not get into the whole Wang Kelian nightmare. I have no idea what the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Wang Kelian will expose, but if it is a genuine commission, I think Malaysians would be shocked to discover how deep the rot goes in the state security apparatus. I believe most Malaysians are cynical of the PDRM, and more importantly, of the efforts to reform it. Furthermore, will this RCI also reveal the collusion of the political apparatus?

I am sure there are good cops in the PDRM. The irony, of course, is those good cops may also be part of the system of low-level corruption, but they carry out their duties in a way which is beneficial to whichever social strata they engage with. The system is complicated and it would be simplistic to ignore such realities.

However, I would argue that reforming the PDRM is more a political problem than an institutional one. While social activists, former law enforcement officers and various pressure groups are clamouring for reform, the people most often standing in their way are not from the PDRM – who do want reform for various reasons – but political operatives who stand to benefit from alliances with power groups within the PDRM.

In the Copgate example, do you really think that political operatives in the establishment were in the dark? Keep in mind that the then home minister Hishammuddin Hussein (above) said: "Prove it, prove it. If they prove it, we can take action." Unfortunately for him, there was proof under his nose, as detailed here. 

When people talk about reforms, they talk about something like the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC). While this is a constructive first step, what is really needed is a complete overhaul of the system. This, of course, is not something that can be done overnight, but which is something a committed government could start in one term.

It is a very complicated issue. One former cop reminded me of the benefits of having a single entity that controls crime, instead of multiple gangs waging war for turf and profit. 

The fact that the PDRM is alleged to have facilitated this in the Copgate affair, for example, is part of maintaining peace and stability in volatile urban areas. There is an eco-system of patronage and corruption which, unfortunately, also creates order (stability), if not justice.

Not to mention intelligence gathered from the relationship between politicians and the criminal underworld, which sometimes contains greater threats - foreign most often - to the greater Malaysian society. 

This, of course, is somewhat different now because the politicians in charge are the former opposition. But you would have to be naive to think that money and influence from powerful crime syndicates is not part of this 'New Malaysia'.

With this in mind, this lament that public bodies are somehow punishing the PDRM is also a dog whistle for the ketuanan game that is always in play. Non-Malays are constantly reminded that public institutions are Malay institutions, especially during the long Umon watch. Things do not change overnight. 

The Harapan government uses dog whistle politics as well, but it have to be careful because it has a sizable non-Malay base.

So, race, religion, crime and commerce are part of the state security apparatus. You can bet your last ringgit that genuine reforms will be hampered by various politicians in the guise of being "fair" to the PDRM.

We are living in very treacherous times. When someone like Khalid Samad talks about the possibility of a potential coup because Malays are easily bamboozled by elements in the bureaucracy, we have to take a good hard look at the police force. I would argue that besides the economy, the first institution that really needs to be substantially reformed is the PDRM.

I would go so far as to argue for some sort of truth and reconciliation commission instead of outright criminal investigations, because, as a just retired middle manager in the PDRM told me, "God knows what you will discover when you pull that thread."

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S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. A retired barrister-at-law, he is one of the founding members of the National Patriots Association. - Mkini