(Petaling Jaya, Friday) : DAP express shock at Inspector General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Musa Hassan’s revelation that there are only 7,000 CID (Criminal Investigation Department) personnel in the country to fight crime. How can the people feel safe if there are only 7,000 out of 92,000 or only 7.6% of the police are catching criminals and making our streets safe for 26 million Malaysian throughout the country?

He said the current ratio of policemen to citizens in Petaling Jaya was 1:149 but the ratio would be much higher if limited to those given the task to fight crime and not do other clerical, traffic or follow opposition leaders. The public is unhappy that they are paying for 92,000 policemen but 85,000 policemen do not carry out their primary duties to catch snatch thieves, robbers and drug traffickers.

The time has come to increase the number of policmen to fight crime so that there will be 40,000 policemen on the streets working to catch criminals and make our towns and streets safe for us, especially women and children. The public demands that almost half of our country’s 92,000 policemen should be protecting us and making our country safe from crime. It is unacceptable for the public that the taxpayers are paying for 83% of the policemen to do work that is unrelated to crime prevention.

If Musa wants to save the police force from being a corrupt body unable to fight against snatch thefts, armed robberies and drug trafficking, then he has to support the 125 recommendations of the Royal Commission to Enhance the Operation and Management of the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM), including increasing police salaries and setting up of the Independent Police Complainst and Misconduct Commission(IPCMC).

Musa had made a commitment to the public to fight crime especially the 3 priority areas of snatch thefts, armed robberies and drug trafficking. In his inaugural keynote address to all police chiefs and OCPDs on 13/9/2006, he spoke of the need to wipe out corruption to regain the good image of the force with clean, honest and trustworthy policemen.

The Royal Commission chairman, Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah, said the function of the IPCMC as watchdog body was to prevent, detect and investigate corruption and other serious misconduct within PDRM. Clearly the present mechanism to prevent corruption and serious misconduct is ineffective and the problem within the police force has gone from bad to worse. Now even some policemen commit robbery and other crimes.

Musa said there was no need for an IPCMC because there were already four bodies acting as watchdogs for the force such as RMP Disciplinary Division, Human Rights Commission (SUHAKAM), Public Complaints Bureau and the Police Commission headed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also Internal Security Minister. However these four bodies are ineffective which necessitated the establishment of the Royal Commission of Police to look into an alternative to make the police accountable, efficient, professional and trustworthy.

Musa’s concerns about the lack of an avenue to appeal decisions made against police officers can be easily addressed as this is not the reason to reject the IPCMC as the saying goes one should not throw out the baby with the water in the bath-tub. Even though Musa said he was misquoted about his objections to the IPCMC, the attitude of the PDRM is still resistant to reform and would be doubted unless the PDRM states unequivocally its support for an oversight body such as the IPCMC.

Adopting the 125 recommendations of the Royal Commission would also help to increase the salary of the police. DAP agrees with Musa that the police are under-paid and work as cheap labour with a starting salary of RM650 for constables. DAP condemns the BN government for refusing to increase the salary of policemen and urges their salary to be revised to a minimum of RM 1,000 per month with an additional hardship allowance of RM 500 for those serving in Kuala Lumpur. Such an increase would not only be higher than foreign workers to restore the police’s dignity but also help to combat corruption within the police force.

(15/09/2006)