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Cabinet
tomorrow should direct the full and immediate public release of the Royal
Police Commission Interim Report to demonstrate that the government is
serious about accountability, transparency, good governance and a
world-class police force to roll back the crime wave in the country Media Statement by Lim Kit Siang (Petaling Jaya, Tuesday): It is totally unsatisfactory and unacceptable that the Malaysian public should depend on bits and pieces of information whether from the Chairman of the Royal Police Commission, Tun Dzaiddin Abdullah or comments from the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi about the interim report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry submitted to the Yang di Pertuan Agong on Friday. The Cabinet tomorrow should direct the full and immediate public release of the Royal Commission Interim Report to demonstrate that the government is serious about accountability, transparency and good governance, and a world-class police force to roll back the crime wave in the country. Some of the statements by Dzaiddin after the presentation of the Royal Police Commission Interim Report is quite shocking, as for instance, his attempt to exonerate the police for failing to provide a world-class police service. Dzaiddin said in an exclusive New Sunday Times interview (8.8.04) “Q: From the public inquiries, what do you think is the public perception of the police force?
“A. My perception is that generally the public expects a lot from the police, and when they fail to deliver, society gets disillusioned.
“Realities were not taken into consideration, expectations were extremely high and here is where we are today. Most of the complaints were about the ineffectiveness of police frontline service. Their inaction in responding to reports, about complainants being kept in the dark over the status of investigations, and grouses over time-consuming investigations when the complaints were not extremely serious.
“There was some basis for the complaints, but public expectations were extremely high. The reality is that the force is understaffed, lacks logistical support and morale is low.” By Dzaiddin’s logic, the Abdullah administration would have a good excuse of having “extremely high public expectations” if it fails to honour its pledge to deliver a clean, incorruptible, efficient, trustworthy, people-oriented administration which is prepared to hear the truth from the people, or when the objective to get out of the “First World Infrastructure, Third World Mentality” malaise proves to be failure. The country does not need a Police Royal Commission to come out with such wishy-washy explanation to explain why Malaysia does not have a world-class police force, particularly at a time when Malaysians have lost the two fundamental rights of freedom from crime and fear of crime. Yesterday, Dzaiddin said that
based on complaints at 26 public inquiries held nationwide and feedback from
21 briefings to government departments, professional bodies, non
governmental organisations and political parties, corruption occurred at all
level of the police force. The Malaysian public have a
right to know what recommendations have been made by the Royal Police
Commission in its Interim Report to make the Police one of the least corrupt
government departments in the country, especially as the Prime Minister has
said that he wanted the recommendations of the commission to be implemented
immediately. |