Police complaints commission bill unfair: Sabah police
Published on: Monday, November 11, 2019
By: Sherell Jeffrey
KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah police contingent agreed with Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador to support the proposed Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) Bill on condition that it goes hand in hand with the rights of the police force.
Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Omar Mammah said they support the IPCMC on condition that it is improved on issues that they feel need to be addressed, such as constitutional, legal, welfare and logistics, etc.
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“We hope the Select Committee will reconsider the issues we have presented during the hearing,” he said during a public hearing chaired by the Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee tasked with looking into the draft legislation, Ramkarpal Singh, here, Sunday.
During the hearing, Omar described certain provisions in the Bill as draconian.
“There’s obviously no separation of powers and this is against the standard of practice of law in the country,” he said.
“Separation of powers is practised by the law in our country where there is an investigating party, those who will make the decision whether to sue or not and the court which will decide whether the person is guilty or not.
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“In this Bill, it also does not take into account the accused’s rights. Under the existing laws, an accused can choose to not answer a question that he feels is detrimental to his case, but in this Bill, the person can be jailed two years or fined not more than RM10,000 for not answering a question,” he said.
He said this is unfair to the accused and thus, the IPCMC Bill has to be refined.
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“The Bill needs to be addressed in accordance with the constitutional requirements and the laws, in order to improve the welfare and infrastructure of the police.
“We support IPCMC but we need to see it fine-tuned so that it is fair to the police. It has to be improved before it is debated in Parliament,” said Omar.
Meanwhile, Ramkarpal Singh said this was the last (fourth) session held outside of Kuala Lumpur.
He said the Select Committee had met with stakeholders and bodies in the past one and half months to get feedback on the Bill, which by far has received positive feedback from those who support and do not support the Bill.
The Bukit Gelugor MP said they would take into account all views and summarise and include in their report before handing it to the Government for consideration.
The report must be submitted before Nov 18.
The public hearing on Sunday drew 141 participants from the police, non-governmental organisations, Upko and SAPP, among other political parties.
It has so far been conducted in Sarawak, Penang and Johor.
Also present were Tuaran MP Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau who is also part of the Select Committee.
The IPCMC was mooted by the Royal Commission to enhance the operation and management of the police, in its report published in May 2005.
The proposed establishment of the commission was initially met with reservations from police associations, but after further deliberations, was subsequently supported on condition that it is fine-tuned.
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