PETALING JAYA: Strengthen the role and transparency of the newly established Independent Police Conduct Commission (IPCC) to restore the people’s trust in law enforcement, say civil society organisations (CSOs).
In a joint press conference yesterday, 57 CSOs aired their concerns over the recently announced setup of the proposed seven-member IPCC on Jan 10.
Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) coordinator Wong Yan Ke said the inherent structural deficiencies within the IPCC could render the oversight mechanism a “toothless tiger” regardless of its members’ competence.
This includes the IPCC’s inability to conduct searches and seizures or make unannounced visits to police lockups.
The commission is also unable to take direct disciplinary action themselves against offending police officers.
“The IPCC’s jurisdiction being purely limited to providing recommendations to the Police Force Commission for subsequent action is a severe limitation as they could be ignored.
“This may worsen the already rising trust deficit between the public and law enforcement due to the recent spike in severe cases of police misconduct.
“This could cause people to be less willing to cooperate with officers in the future, which will in turn make it significantly harder for the police to do their duties,” he said.
On Jan 16, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said that 2% of the police force have been found to have committed wrongdoings in 2023, which translates to over 2,740 cases of rogue police officers out of an overall 137,000-strong police force.
He added that the IPCC must address the lack of up-to-date data transparency on cases of police misconduct through releasing frequent updates on police misconduct cases and statistics.
“The IPCC must be made to publicly release misconduct data on a frequent basis instead of needing CSOs like us to pressure them to disclose data through other channels like asked questions in Parliament.
“This will help to instil public confidence in law enforcement again, knowing that their complaints and concerns are being heard,” he said.
He also called on the government to set up additional IPCC offices in other states to ensure that all communities, especially the marginalised rural communities like those in Sabah and Sarawak, are served equally.
Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) media monitoring and action program officer Dineshwara Naidu also lamented the lack of transparency so far over the selection process for the current five IPCC members.
“The government must make it clear on how potential IPCC members are or have been chosen and what criteria they must meet as well as who or which department is in charge of this vital process.
“They must also be clear on who will be held accountable should any issues arise from the members,” he said.
Other notable CSOs who voiced similar concerns during the press conference include representatives from the Coalition for Clean & Fair Elections (Bersih) and Amnesty International Malaysia.
