Two women organisations are satisfied with the recommendations made by the independent commission in its probe into the nude 'ear-squat' incident , but want immediate implementation of all the proposals.

"As with the Royal Police Commission Report, we are quite excited about it. Our disappointment is that the recommendations of the earlier report were not carried through," said All Women's Action Society (Awam) President Judith Loh when contacted.

However, she said unlike the Royal Police Commission's report, the report on the nude 'ear-squats' case involved a specific incident and thus the commission's recommendations would be easier to monitor.

The five-member Commission to Inquire into the Standard Operating Procedure, Rules and Regulations in Relation to the Conduct of Body Search in Respect of an Arrest and Detention by the Police was set up last month and completed its 318-page report on Jan 15. The report was made public yesterday.

The Royal Police Commission's report, released last May, proposed 125 recommendations to improve the police force.

Loh said while laws were important, police personnel should also be given training on gender sensitive issues to raise awareness.

Arbitrary detention

The Women's Development Collective said that, while the commission's recommendations on the manner of body searches are comprehensive, wrongful detention should also have been addressed.

Citing the alleged wrong detention involving four Chinese nationals , WDC Executive Director Maria Chin Abdullah said there should be a proper procedure to detain someone.

"They (the commission) should have stopped the police from detaining people in such an arbitrary fashion. We seem to have forgotten this part of the police procedure," she said.

The infamous nude 'ear-squat' incident had sparked a public outcry when it was exposed by DAP parliamentarian Teresa Kok last November. The government set up an independent commission, led by former chief justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah.

In its report, the commission called on the police to immediately stop the practice of making detainees do 'ear-squats' in the nude.

The commission described the practice as "improper, haram (prohibited) under Syariah principles and a violation of human rights provisions".