THE CICAK.com

Police be accountable, demand the people

By WAN MOHD AIMRAN

I think it is perfectly justified for Malaysians to be cynical, judging from how the police force and several Barisan Nasional MPs vehemently opposed the Independent Police Misconduct and Complaint Commission (IPCMC).

I think one could not ask for a clearer or bolder indication that the police have a nonchalant mentality and are not interested in “transparency, integrity and accountability.” These three words are merely used as catchphrases by Malaysian politicians.

The police force’s opposition is a blatant insubordination to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who himself agreed - in principle at least - to the establishment of IPCMC.

The police force, in my opinion, is betraying the public.

It is fair to say that Malaysia is not a police state. The prime minister’s prerogative is greater than that of the inspector-general of police, Tan Sri Mohd. Bakri Hj. Omar. If we were to follow that line of reasoning one step further, we would come to the obvious conclusion that ultimately both the prime minister and inspector-general are accountable to Malaysian citizens.

And I believe this is the point that matters most.

It is certainly grave, if the prime minister and inspector-general are constantly at odds with each other on matters vital to the country, such as the state of the police force.

However, it is even more troubling, and even catastrophic, when the inspector-general’s aspirations do not match with that of the people, who entrusted the police to protect them in the first place.

By rejecting the establishment of the IPCMC from the outset - whilst being fully cognizant to the less-than-favourable perceptions the public have toward the police force, the inspector-general clearly needs to do some hard soul-searching and reflect upon his immediate priorities.

The inspector-general is committing a grave injustice to himself by stubbornly disregarding calls for improvement, given the dismal state of the whole situation. Shutting down possible avenues for good change, when there are people counting on you, is even more grave.

Is the inspector-general unaware of public perception about the police force?

I don’t think so. He chooses to ignore it out of convenience. After all, out of sight, out of mind, right?

How could someone so high in the socio-political hierarchy be so blind and ignorant to the desires and wishes of the people and the prime minister?

Maybe he is busy pursuing other pressing concerns, such as enforcing “uniformity” - in a visual sense within the police force. In a recent recent tudung ruling, all female police officers - Muslims and non-Muslims - are required to wear the tudung, or headscarf, at official functions and parades. This is “to reflect the Islamic values present within the police force.”

Time and time again, our country’s administrators never cease to amaze me with their innate ability to busy themselves with the most banal and mundane matters.

I find it perplexing that they require female police officers to don the tudung just for the sake of uniformity. This is so superficial.

I do not believe that Islam instructs women to cover their aurat just for the sake of uniformity.

I believe the wisdom behind the practice goes beyond that.

I think enforcing the tudung in the name of uniformity is a great offence and insult to the real wisdom behind the practice of covering one’s aurat in Islam.

And as for trying to “reflect the Islamic values present within the police force,” I feel it implies that the religions practiced by non-Muslims do not have the same honourable and admirable values.

Is Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism totally devoid of the fine moral values present in the abundance in Islam in Malaysia? Is Islam the only religion to preach that its followers be kind, have high moral integrity and have the utmost respect for others? One would be extremely deluded to think so.

In addition, I think any faithful Muslim would abhor any attempts to associate Islam and its ideals with the police force given their controversial conduct lately - images of the nude-squat case, the shaving of heads and the poor treatment of detainees.

One can argue that it is not the whole police force at fault, and that past scandals only reflect a few rotten apples. Fair enough, one certainly should not make generalisations.

But the conduct of some police officers tells us how ineffective our internal system of checks and balances are.

The crux of the matter is this: there are serious problems within the police force, and they need to look into proposed recommendations to clean up their conduct.

Dodging the matter does more harm to the police, and does not help rebuild public confidence and trust.

One can try to run away from the real issue at hand or shut out criticisms by enacting trivial rules and regulations. But without an honest and sustained critical initiative from the police force, change will be slow in coming.

One can try to cover a rotting carcass in order to hide it. But the stench of the corpse is just too strong.

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WAN MOHD AIMRAN BIN WAN MOHD KAMIL is a staff writer for theCICAK.

He is currently a Physics and Theoretical Physics undergraduate at Imperial College London. Often accused by friends for being too politically correct, he continually seeks a fine balance between indulging himself in philosophical thoughts and leading a normal life as a Malaysian youth. Visit his site.