Judge in Favour of IPCMC

PETALING JAYA: Kuala Lumpur High Court judge VT Singham today called for the setting-up of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) due to the sharp rise in custodial violence.

He made the call while delivering his judgment on a civil suit filed against the government by the family of A Kugan who died while in police custody four years ago.

Singham said recommendations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to form the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) must be activated as soon as possible.

“This is to assure all concerned members of society that an independent agency is looking into the matter without any influence from police officers,” he said.

“There is justification to protect the interests of those taken into police custody. If abuse of power and the unlawful act is not checked, people will lose faith in the enforcing machinery,” he said.

He added that no matter how “faithfully” the local police investigated cases, it would still lack credibility when it came to probing its own men.

At a press conference after the verdict was delivered, Padang Serai MP N Surendran said he would raise the matter during the King’s debate speech in Parliament.

Earlier today, Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told the Parliament that the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) was set up in line with the proposal made under the RCI.

He said this in response to PKR Johari Abdul’s question on why the government was reluctant to set up the IPCMC, a proposal which came out of the same RCI.

Zahid replied by saying that the EAIC was a better solution to investigate misconduct by the police or any other enforcement agency as the IPCMC had some “overlapping” power with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

He added the IPCMC also runs contrary to the Extra Territorial Offences Act 1973.

IPCMC was the last part in the proposal to make improvements to the police submitted by the Special Commission to Enhance The Operation And Management Of The Royal Malaysian Police chaired by former Chief Justice Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah, who proposed that the body used the models of the Independent Police Complaint Commission (IPCC) of the United Kingdom and the police monitoring bodies found in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia, and Hong Kong.

Source: FreeMalaysiaToday