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Police Royal Commission Report should be posted on the Internet to be easily accessible to the 100,000-strong police force and all interested persons  as very few Malaysians, including Ministers and MPs,  have seen let alone read it almost a month after its submission


Speech at the Roundtable Dialogue

by Lim Kit Siang

(Grand Continental Hotel, Penang, Tuesday): The Police Royal Commission Report should be posted on the Internet to be easily accessible to the 100,000-strong police force and all interested persons  as very few Malaysians, including Ministers and MPs,  have seen let alone read it almost a month after its submission to the Yang di Pertuan Agong and the Prime Minister.

The reports of Royal Commissions and inquiries into police reform and modernization of other countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia and  Canada are easily available on the Internet, one of the latest being the Morris Inquiry Report into the professional standards and employment matters in the London Metropolitan Police Service, which completed its report in December 2004 in less than one year since its commissioning.

 

There can be no reason, whether policy or technological, as to why the Malaysian  Police Royal Commission Report could not be posted up immediately on the Internet. In fact, the failure to do so is an adverse reflection on the ICT expertise and commitment of the nation, making a mockery of a decade of Malaysian hypes about the Multimedia Super Corridor and wanting to be at the cutting edge of information and  communication technology.

 

If the Police  Royal Commission faces difficulty in putting its report on the Internet, DAP and the civil society are prepared to offer their free services.

 

I will contact the Secretary of the Commission, Datuk Hamzah Md Rus for an electronic copy and we are prepared to host the report on the DAP website if a home could not be found for the Report.

 

It is most regrettable that a month after the submission of the Police Royal Commission Report, government and police leaders have failed to address the three core areas which the Royal Commission regarded as critical for the transformation of the Malaysian police into a world-class 21st century organization – to keep crime rate low, eradicate corruption and uphold human rights particularly rights of women and children.

 

Government, police, public and media attention on the RM34 million “Cop” should not be at the expense of the even more important agenda to endorse and implement  the Commission’s “zero tolerance for corruption” concept and to effect institutional changes to remove opportunities for corruption and eradicate the systemic and even syndicated corruption in the Malaysian police.

 

The Commission’s proposal for the establishment of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) is one of the most important of its 125 recommendations and it should be established by Parliament when it meets next month.

When the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi returns from his Japanese trip, I will seek an appointment to discuss the Police Royal Commission Report and how Parliament could debate the Report when it reconvenes on June 20.

(24/05/2005)      

                                                          


*  Lim Kit Siang, Parliamentary Opposition Leader, MP for Ipoh Timur & DAP Central Policy and Strategic Planning Commission Chairman