'Special police panel on custody deaths unacceptable'
Published: May 29, 2013 5:16 AM | Updated: May 29, 2013 6:58 AM
DAP national adviser Lim Kit Siang has rubbished the police's special committee to curb deaths in custody, saying what Malaysians want is the much - touted Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).
DAP national adviser Lim Kit Siang has rubbished the police's special committee to curb deaths in custody, saying what Malaysians want is the much-touted Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).
The committee, to be headed by inspector-general of police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar, will be completely unsatisfactory and unacceptable, Lim said.
"After demonstrating himself in his first week of assuming duty as the ‘most political IGP in history', whose first priority is to protect the regime rather than the safety of Malaysians from crime and fear of crime, with scant regard to the human rights of Malaysians to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly...
"Malaysians have no confidence in this IGP or in any police special committee, even if it is headed by the IGP to put an end to deaths in police custody," Lim said in a statement today.
The IPCMC was proposed by a Royal Commission of Inquiry in 2005, with wide-ranging powers to tackle abuse of power and corruption in the police force.
However, the plan was opposed by the police force itself, and a watered-down version with no enforcement power, known as the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC), was implemented instead.
Lim challenged Khalid to spearhead a campaign to establish the IPCMC, and pledged the cooperation of all 89 Pakatan Rakyat MPs if he does so.
On another issue, Lim countered police management director Mortadza Nazarene's statement yesterday that the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) can visit those detained by the police.
The statement rings hollow, Lim said, because the terms of the last batch of Suhakam commissioners expired more than a month ago and no commissioner has since been appointed.
The committee, to be headed by inspector-general of police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar, will be completely unsatisfactory and unacceptable, Lim said.
"After demonstrating himself in his first week of assuming duty as the ‘most political IGP in history', whose first priority is to protect the regime rather than the safety of Malaysians from crime and fear of crime, with scant regard to the human rights of Malaysians to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly..."Malaysians have no confidence in this IGP or in any police special committee, even if it is headed by the IGP to put an end to deaths in police custody," Lim said in a statement today.
The IPCMC was proposed by a Royal Commission of Inquiry in 2005, with wide-ranging powers to tackle abuse of power and corruption in the police force.
However, the plan was opposed by the police force itself, and a watered-down version with no enforcement power, known as the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC), was implemented instead.Lim challenged Khalid to spearhead a campaign to establish the IPCMC, and pledged the cooperation of all 89 Pakatan Rakyat MPs if he does so.
On another issue, Lim countered police management director Mortadza Nazarene's statement yesterday that the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) can visit those detained by the police.
The statement rings hollow, Lim said, because the terms of the last batch of Suhakam commissioners expired more than a month ago and no commissioner has since been appointed.
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