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LETTER | The Malaysian Bar welcomes Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s announcement that the existing Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) will be enhanced and converted into the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).

We also welcome the statement by deputy inspector-general of police Noor Rashid Ibrahim that the government’s decision to form the IPCMC is in line “with Bukit Aman’s goal of enhancing integrity among its personnel”.

His receptiveness to the establishment of the IPCMC echoes an earlier, similar statement made by the inspector-general of police Mohamad Fuzi Harun. It is heartening that the police no longer opposes the proposed IPCMC.

The Bar has consistently and insistently called for the establishment of the IPCMC, which would operate as an independent, external commission tasked solely to receive and investigate complaints of misconduct and abuse made against the police, ever since its establishment was proposed by the Royal Commission to Enhance the Operation and Management of the Royal Malaysia Police in its report published in May 2005.

A proposed bill for the establishment of the IPCMC had been included in the report.

However, the government of the day declined to implement this recommendation, and had set up the EAIC instead.

One of the observed weaknesses of the EAIC is its slowness in investigating complaints of police misconduct.

While that shortcoming has been mitigated somewhat, a continuing flaw is the EAIC’s inability to ensure that its findings are acted upon by the plethora of law enforcement agencies placed within its purview. This has severely reduced the effectiveness of the EAIC.

Although 13 years have passed since an IPCMC to oversee only the police was first mooted, the need for it remains as relevant – if not more so – today as it was then.

The establishment of the IPCMC must be made a legislative priority of the government in the upcoming sitting of Parliament in October 2018.

In this regard, we await details as to how the EAIC Act 2009 will be revised. In our view, rather than amend the EAIC Act 2009, a fresh bill for the establishment of the IPCMC would be preferable, and should be tabled without delay.

The Bar looks forward to the prompt establishment of the IPCMC. We stand ready to lend our expertise to assist the government to make the IPCMC a reality in the very near future.

The Malaysian public deserves no less than proper, independent and holistic civilian oversight of, and full accountability by the police.


GEORGE VARUGHESE is the president of the Malaysian Bar.

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

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