The Bar Council wants the authorities to establish the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) in view of a damning report that 80 percent of Malaysia’s border enforcement personnel are corrupt.
Bar Council chairperson Steven Thiru said in a press statement yesterday that the June 3 New Straits Times report was a "crushing indictment" of the enforcement agencies and would cause further loss of public confidence.
Thiru said establishing the IPCMC would allow Putrajaya to send the signal that it has a zero-tolerance policy for corruption.
"The Malaysian Bar also reiterates our call to the Malaysian government to establish the IPCMC as an independent, external oversight body tasked solely to receive and investigate complaints against the police.
"We recognise that there are many good police personnel, and it is imperative that their good name not be sullied by the misconduct of their colleagues," Thiru added.
The IPCMC is a powerful police watchdog mooted by a Royal Commission of Inquiry in 2005. The commission was led by former chief justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah ( photo ).
However, Putrajaya buckled to pressure from the police and in 2009 established the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) - which critics described as a watered-down version of the IPCMC.
ISA repeal blamed
The EAIC's mandate covers all enforcement agencies, but it has no enforcement power of its own. According to the EAIC website, 222 complaints against the police were received in 2014, but only 58 investigation papers were opened.
The NST report cited an anonymous Special Branch source claiming that a 10-year covert mission uncovered endemic corruption among officers and men from the Immigration Department, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), the Anti-Smuggling Unit (UPP) and the General Operations Force of the police.
This source also blamed the abolishment of the Internal Security Act (ISA) - the law that in its time allowed detention without trial - for the police failure to clamp down on this scourge.
Current laws such as the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act 2007 and the Security Offences and Special Measures Act 2012 are said to be "difficult to apply" because the level of proof required was "extremely high".
Sufficient provisions for action
Thiru described these excuses a "lame excuse" as there are sufficient provisions to allow the Special Branch to discharge its functions.
"Moreover, the Special Branch's responsibility is to investigate and gather evidence on the commission of a crime, not to decide whether prosecution is warranted or likely
to succeed."
According to the NST report, the Special Branch has passed information on corrupt border enforcers to the relevant agencies, but no action has been taken.
Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has said he would try to convince cabinet to deploy the military at borders to replace enforcers.
Malaysia's border enforcers have come under public scrutiny following the discovery of camps used by human smugglers in Perlis over the recent weeks.
Mass graves, believed to contain the remains of human trafficking victims , were uncovered in those camps.
