Political will, social awareness needed to push for effective police oversight body: experts

KUALA LUMPUR – Political will along with widespread social awareness, on the need for an independent police oversight body, must first grow in prominence before the government can be pressured into the creation of such a group, a panel of experts said today.

Speaking at the “IPCMC (Independent Police Complaints and Conduct Commission) & Police Accountability – The Way Forward” forum organised by the Malaysian Bar earlier today, these experts stressed the importance of forming a body to “watch over the guardians”, which in the long run is bound to improve the operations and accountability within the police force.

As such, former Human Rights Commission of Malaysia commissioner Datuk Mah Weng Kwai said it is important that constant awareness and conversations surrounding the need for an oversight body exists within society.

“It has to be a holistic approach not just by the Bar or NGOs, but it has to be a work in progress by everyone. Efforts like this must continue and not speak about it only when there is a matter of public interest.

“The groundswell must be there,” he said.

Bar Council Task Force on IPCMC and Police Accountability co-chairperson Datuk Seri M. Ramachelvam said the biggest flaw they saw in the latest Independent Police Complaints Commissions (IPCC) proposal was the removal of disciplinary powers vested in the body.

Ramachelvam stressed that, as previously highlighted by lawmakers and activists, the existence of an oversight body tasked to keep an eye on police will remain largely ineffective if their authority to punish rogue officers is removed, as seen in the latest IPCC bill.

“We have been in continuous engagement with the authorities, with various stakeholders, to ask for the formation of an IPCMC, or IPCC, that is a meaningful institution and not one formed without substance.

“Basically, we are talking about IPCMC or IPCC as an oversight commission with disciplinary powers they need, one, requisite power, and two, requisite resources,” he said during a press conference after the forum.

Ivy N Josiah, who sat on the 2005 Royal Commission of Inquiry to Enhance the Operation and Management of the Royal Malaysia Police, said it would ultimately take courage from political leaders for the body to see the light of day.

“It will take the informal chatting, persuading between politicians, it will take protests, memorandums.

“But more than anything, these political decisions are made when political leadership says ‘it’s time’, and usually they will say ‘yes’ when they realise their days are numbered if they do not do something about it,” she said.

Fellow Bar Council committee co-chairperson Roger Chan Weng Keng said he feels society needs to be more aware and angered at the abuses that are being committed – ones that affect the lives of others and ones that could possibly be avoided with the introduction of an oversight body.

“You have to remember death in police custody is a very serious offence, it’s a serious crime; sometimes I think there is not enough outrage on issues like this.

“The outpouring of concern is not proportionate to the seriousness of the problem, and that is why we have to increase our advocacy,” he added.

The IPCMC Bill was initially tabled by the Pakatan Harapan government in 2019 with plans for it to be made law the following year but the coalition was blindsided by the Sheraton Move coup that saw its collapse in 2020.

The subsequent Perikatan Nasional government then made amendments, which many argued had made the body a toothless tiger, to the IPCMC and renamed it the IPCC, which strips all disciplinary powers from its members.

The second reading of the IPCC Bill was supposed to be tabled in Parliament in May, but it was postponed and is expected to happen in next month’s sitting. – The Vibes, June 29, 2022