PUTRAJAYA: An in-depth meeting with stakeholders over certain sections of the Prevention of Crime Act (Poca) will be held on Wednesday (Feb 14) to hear thoughts from all parties, says Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution.
The Home Minister said that the meeting was slated to discuss the law after the Federal Court deemed two sections of Poca unconstitutional in 2022, ruling that violated the doctrine of separation of powers.
"That decision went through the appeals process all the way to the Federal Court. So that means we can no longer utilise those sections," he said after the ministry's monthly assembly on Wednesday.
He added that enforcement efforts by the police had been disadvantaged following the decision.
The meeting is aimed to address concerns and feedback from the cops as well as NGOs and other stakeholders, he said.
"It will involve several parties, including the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform), Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, and Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo, who both have extensive legal backgrounds. We hope this session will give us some input on our way forward," he said.
Regarding the recent slew of bad press about bad cops, the Minister said that the ministry has a zero-tolerance attitude on the matter.
He added that the bad apples had besmirched the reputation of the police as a whole and that it was "totally unfair" to those who have served with dignity and honesty.
He also said that despite the bad press, requests to join the force were still high.
"If we had 3,000 slots to fill but only 500 are requesting to join, then we have a problem. But for the police inspector rank, we have around 35,000 applicants, and we can only take a 'very select few'.
"These are high-quality applicants; some have mastery of three to four languages, and others have current, in-demand qualifications that are needed by the police force," he said.
