Set up IPCMC Now Before More Die
Up until today, the BN Government does not have the political will to carry out this recommendation of that Royal Commission. It means that the BN Government has flouted the will of the people and also wasted vast sums of tax payers’ money.
By Dr Kua Kia Soong, Director of SUARAM
The latest death at MACC is surely the last straw. Malaysians must demand the immediate establishment of an Independent Police Complaints Commission whose remit extends to staff of enforcement agencies. NGOs are demanding the setting up of another Royal Commission of Inquiry but let us not forget that the IPCMC was the recommendation of the Royal Commission on the Police in 2004. It was supposed to have been set up in 2006.
Up until today, the BN Government does not have the political will to carry out this recommendation of that Royal Commission. It means that the BN Government has flouted the will of the people and also wasted vast sums of tax payers’ money.
I had occasion to witness the British Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) in action a few months ago when I was in the UK. There was a siege by the police on a gunman who had been shooting at people. It was a day long siege and the gunman was shot by police marksmen in the end. The moment the man was shot, the special force from the IPCC took over and all the police who had taken part in the siege had to withdraw forthwith.
Now, what does it tell us about this IPCC?
Firstly, it is independent. It is independent of the police or enforcement agencies and also independent of the government. The commissioners must be people who have credibility and SEEN to be independent.
Secondly, this IPCC has a Standard Operating Procedure. The moment they know of a death at the hands of the police or enforcement agency, they swing into action IMMEDIATELY to investigate and collect evidence. They do not wait around for a bunch of NGOs to shame them into action, or exhume the victim after months of inactivity as in the Teoh Beng Hock case.
The IPCC is proactive in investigating other complaints against the police and enforcement agencies besides death at the hands of the latter. They also investigate any suspicion of corruption in the police force and enforcement agencies even when there have not received any complaints on this front.
Let me remind the public that apart from these two recent deaths at MACC, deaths in police custody, police shootings, deaths in detention camps have been monitored by SUARAM through the years and can be found in our annual Human Rights reports, as follows:
2009 – 7 deaths in police custody, 88 deaths by police shootings;
2008 – 13 deaths in police custody, 44 deaths by police shootings;
2007 – 11 deaths in police custody, 9 deaths by police shootings;
2006 – 14 deaths in police custody, 27 deaths by police shootings
2005 – 14 deaths in police custody, 12 deaths by police shootings;
2004 – 19 deaths in police custody, 23 deaths by police shootings;
2003 – 23 deaths in police custody, 27 deaths by police shootings;
2002 – 15 deaths in police custody, 54 deaths by police shootings;
2001 – 16 deaths in police custody, 14 deaths by police shootings;
2000 – 7 deaths in police custody, 33 deaths by police shootings.
In March 2007, the government revealed that there had been 95 deaths at the Simpang Rengam detention centre from 2000 to March 2007. In April 1999, the government revealed that there had been 635 deaths by police shootings in the previous 10 years. I might add that official government statistics are often contradictory at different points in time but these are almost definitely an understatement of the actual situation.
Apart from the MACC, other enforcement agencies where untoward incidents and even torture have been alleged recently include the armed forces (case of the missing jet engines), the Securities Commission (when journalists were harassed), the Inland Revenue and the Customs.
Only an Independent Police Complaints Commission can solve this abhorrent abuse of powers by the police and enforcement agencies. A coroner’s court under the present system will have limited effectiveness because of the quality of the investigation and evidence presented.
If the BN government does not have the political will to cure this malaise afflicting our society, how can they talk about any transformation?
