Police force facing crisis after crisis
Since IGP Khalid Abu Bakar took over, Malaysians have not seen any new or real initiatives, breakthrough or success “in the most important challenge” of the police which is to make safety and security the top police priority, says DAP.
K Pragalath, FMT
The police force is up against three crisses – rising crime rate, political bootlicking and custodial deaths – claims DAP’s national publicity secretary Tony Pua.
The public, he said, no longer had confidence in the police force which it saw as being more concerned about hunting down opposition supporters than criminals and the lackof political will to establish the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).
Detailing the triple crisis, Pua cited as an example the recent robbery in a steamboat restaurant involving 70 patrons who lost more than RM20,000 on Saturday to 10 men armed with machetes and iron rods.
“The rise in crime and its aggressiveness has proven the police’s failure in their most important task, that is to ensure that the man-on-the-street do not live in fear for their lives and property.
“The second crisis of confidence faced by the police is because the police force appear to be more interested in politics than combating crime by using the laws on political dissidents instead of focusing on public safety.
“To quote the Gelang Patah Member of Parliament Lim Kit Siang, we now have the “most political IGP” in the nation’s history (through IGP Khalid Abu Bakar).”
Pua said since Khalid’s appointment, Malaysians had not seen any new or real initiatives, breakthrough or success” in the most important challenge of the police to make safety and security the top police priority.
“Instead, we see the police under the IGP coming down hard on Pakatan Rakyat leaders and social activists, although public peace and order had not been undermined in any manner.
“The IGP has instructed the police force to use and abuse the Peaceful Assembly Act and the Sedition Act to intimidate and clamp down on all political dissent,” he said.
