YOURSAY ‘A properly constituted RCI with its recommendations can be ignored and be accused of being unconstitutional by the government.'

'Even UK, Australia have IPCMC-like systems'

FellowMalaysian: Being a member of the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) which tabled the proposal for the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), former Umno Wanita deputy chief Kamilia Ibrahim is the latest of the many concerned voices against the government's reluctance to accept and implement the commission's recommendations.

It is starkly clear that without the IPCMC, if the current situation is allowed to persist, more deaths under policy custody will occur.

The latest incident happened last month where P Karuna Nithi , who turned himself in to the police after a family squabble, was found dead while being detained with close to 50 wounds in his body. The police have denied any wrongdoing.

Without the IPCMC, there is little clout to prosecute those within the police force who had indiscriminately abused their power to committed murder or be complicit in causing deaths while under detention.

In short, without the commission to regulate the conduct of the police force, errant police officers can literally walk away with murder. Why the ruling government allows this is truly mind-boggling.

Sinner: Psychologists must study this phenomenon. As soon as people leave Umno, they regain their intelligence and senses. Incredible.

Slumdog: Whenever Umno politicians lack an intelligent response to demands for major changes, their only means of rebuff is cooking up spurious and baseless arguments.

Other forms of defence include that raising the issue is seditious, unconstitutional, it will hurt the sensitivities of the Muslims, it will confuse the Malays, it's ‘haram' and more recently, the taunt to emigrate elsewhere.

We all know that the police force does the bidding of the government and therefore are a protected species. So it is no surprise that Umno leaders in particular feel very threatened by the idea of the establishment of the IPCMC.

Why would the government want the police to be answerable for the heinous acts it commits on innocent citizens?

To date, not a single police officer has been charged with the use of excessive and unreasonable force, manslaughter or murder - except one scapegoat in the A Kugan case - in any of the other 166 deaths in custody.

Appum: A properly constituted RCI with its recommendations can be ignored and be accused of being unconstitutional by the government.

Why is the government so afraid of setting up the IPCMC? Good police officers have no fear of having such an independent commission.

Dont Just Talk: PM Najib Razak should nominate Kamilia to be the home minister under his transformation plan to replace the current minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who has yet to clear his name from criminal assault .

The latest Transparency-International Malaysia (TI-M) index on corruption placed the police force as the most corrupted, scoring four out of five. Clearly, the ‘Tak Nak Rasuah' is a badge of shame for the force.

Sad Malaysian: PDRM must be audited routinely. Otherwise, how can the police force become a professional body? Obviously by checking on mistakes, learning from them, only then can they grow to become a professional force.

Pputeh: It looks like many Malays, too, die in police custody. What has Umno Youth got to say about this?

Kamilia was silent when in Umno. Now ‘cakap banyak' (she has a lot to say). Maybe it's time for her to join PAS/PKR/DAP.

LKT: With IPCMC,

1) The corrupt practices in the force, from the highest to lowest rank, are being threatened.

2) Police can no longer select who they want to investigate.

3) VVIPs and the well-connected cannot be exempted from the law.

4) Police are no longer ‘Police Raja Di Malaysia'.

5) Police cannot shoot and ask questions later.

6) There will be no protection or cover-up by the higher rank for the lower rank, or vice versa

7) Torture during interrogation cannot be used and is punishable.

8) Lazy cops will get the sack.

9) Power abuse will be checked.

10) Free food, drinks and chicks at the protected entertainment outlets gone.

11) No more free car wash and service.

12) Cops can no longer break traffic rules while telling us mortals to obey the rules, etc, etc.

Now you tell me why they want to implement IPCMC.

Jaded: The crux of the issue is that suspects should not die while in custody. The number of deaths is astoundingly high even over a 13-year period. This is an average of one person dying in the cell per month.

As such, this should be investigated by an independent body, and not the police force themselves. The police obviously have things to hide.

Wira: There are eight times fewer Indians in this country than the Malays and yet the number of custodial deaths among the Indians is half that of the Malays. That means an Indian is four times more likely to die in police custody than other Malaysians.

Kamilia, you are quoting Britian and Australia in your argument. Zahid will quote Zimbabwe and North Korea to show you that the IPCMC is unnecessary.

Paul Warren: But Zimbabwe, got or not? Ah, that is the question. If Zimbabwe doesn't have and we don't have, that is following international standards as well, isn't it?

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now .