Civil rights group not ruling out public protests to push for IPCMC
Ida Lim, TMI
A civil rights movement is not ruling out street gatherings to push for the setting up of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) following a string of deaths in custody.
The Stop State Violence Movement (SSVM), an umbrella body of 30 rights groups including Tenaganita, pointed out that nine cases of custodial deaths had occurred in the first half of this year compared to 2012’s nine deaths.
Tenaganita director Irene Fernandez (picture) said the movement will get MPs to sign a pledge to support the passing of the IPCMC Bill in Parliament.
Fernandez said the movement will step up the pressure on the government from the people for an independent oversight body for the police force.
“If need be, yes, if that’s the way the voice is heard, then so be it,” Fernandez said at a press conference here when asked if the movement would be taking to the streets.
“We are going through different processes right now but if the government of the day does not want to listen, then what else is left?
“And you create a situation and the rakyat has to express through freedom of assembly,” she added.
She later said the people will decide if they will be doing it in the form of a protest or a gathering.
The SSVM also slammed the idea of revamping the existing Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) — which oversees the police and 18 other agencies — as an alternative to establishing the IPCMC.
The movement highlighted various differences between the two commissions, saying that the EAIC has no powers to prosecute and could not initiate probes without complaints being made.
Suaram co-ordinator Thevarajan R., who was also present at the press conference, commented on former Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan’s comment that the proposed IPCMC should include an avenue for police officers to exercise their right to appeal.
Musa had last week said the IPCMC proposed by a 2005 Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) had not included such a clause to permit convicted officers to appeal decisions in court.
