The other recommendations, including the establishment of a statutory commission on appointments, and the need to have interrogation rooms equipped with CCTV cameras, must rank as among the most facile suggestions ever made by a group of people who lay claim to expert knowledge and experience of a level considered sufficient to justify their being appointed to the advisory board.

In the event, by their earth shattering recommendations, they have confirmed what I have known all along: they know nothing about fighting corruption, or for that matter, the Chief Commissioner, if he had to be “advised” on what equipment was needed to be put in place to make the interrogation process more open and transparent, then he has no business to be there in the first place. I make no apology for using the word interrogation in relation to the methods adopted by the MACC when dealing with witnesses. The word interview is yet to be part of the MACC’s corruption fighting lexicon.

The recommendation to equate the head of MACC with the Inspector- General of Police not only shows a pathetic lack of understanding on the part of the advisory board of the duties and responsibilities of the Inspector-General of Police and the officers under his command and control in the overall scheme of national security and public order priorities, but also insensitivity to the intelligence of the public. To believe that an untried jumped-up middle rank public servant barely able to keep his head above water in the job is on par with the head of the Royal Malaysia Police is the height of fantasy. This is similar to proposing that the head of Rela be given the same status as the Chief of the Malaysian Armed Forces Staff.

PDRM is an organisation with a 200 year tradition of public service. Admittedly there have been some hiccups along the way in its long history of protecting life and property, but it has been through several baptisms of fire, and not once has it been found wanting whenever the nation needed it desperately. The makeover from the ACA to the MACC has not resulted in any marked improvement in its performance. It is the same old wine in a brand new Waterford decanter. The wine is still the same, not fit for the table.

My advice to the MACC Chief Commissioner for what it is worth is not to let his ambition exceed his abilities which have yet to be tested and proven. Until Malaysians are absolutely convinced that the organisation he has inherited by default, not his fault, naturally, can be relied upon to carry out its duties in the public interest, and thereby earn their respect and confidence, he will have absolutely no credibility or clout. A senior member of his staff has been to see me, of his own volition, for some advice. He is not happy with the ethical and moral dilemmas he has had to face under the present leadership, and it appears that unless staff morale is attended to sensibly and quickly, the Chief Commissioner’s tenure could be problematical.

So, as we have seen, public confidence, without which he might just as well close shop, is not a commodity that can be bought in a supermarket. He has to earn it the hard way; persuading the government to dress him up to look like a poor imitation of the Inspector-General of Police is not going to help him succeed in his job. People have yet to see the colour of his money, in a manner of speaking. He can say what he likes about doing a great job, but people want results. They are his judges, and on present showing he is seen to be long on self-publicity and rather short on productive effort. I know from inside information he has been busy hiring spin doctors to tart up his image and that of his organisation. Don’t throw good money after bad because public trust and confidence will not return no matter how much money is spent on cosmetic surgery.

MACC’s much touted independence is under close public scrutiny. I am told, again on the internal grapevine, that he insists that every MACC function must have a minister present. MACC should not have too much to do with ministers as this could cause embarrassment should it have to arrest them for corruption. But I suppose MACC’s independence stops short of calling corrupt ministers to account, and so everyone is a winner except the nation.

I see that the MACC Director of Investigation is probing the labyrinth of commercial networks and dealings in search of “elements of corruption” as he puts it, in the Sime Darby affair. The Director of Investigation is a fine man, extremely good at preparing slides for power point presentations but he would not know where to begin. It is a job for trained forensic accountants from the big audit firms with international connections. I know what the outcome will be-there is no evidence of corruption. Remember the Perwaja episode?

SOALAN:

Tunku Abdul Aziz bin Tunku Ibrahim minta MENTERI DALAM NEGERI menyatakan keadaan sewaktu peristiwa berdarah Memali pada tahun 1985 yang mana spekulasi mendakwa Tun Musa Hitam membei arahan untuk menembak mati dua penduduk kampung.

JAWAPAN:

Tuan yang Dipertua,

Saya mengucapkan terima kasih kepada Yang Berhormat Senator Tunku Abdul Aziz bin Tunku Ibrahim yang mengemukakan pertanyaan.

Untuk makluman Yang Berhormat Senator, spekulasi yang mendakwa Tun Musa Hitam memberi arahan untuk menembak dua orang penduduk kampung semasa peristiwa berdarah Memali pada tahun 1985 adalah tidak benar. Pada 19 November 1985, pihak polis telah menjalankan operasi untuk menangkap Ibrahim Mahmud dan 35 orang pengikutnya di bawah Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISA) 1960 kerana disyaki terlibat dalam kegiatan yang menggugat keselamatan negara.

Semasa operasi tersebut, pihak polis telah diserang oleh pengikut-pengikut Ibrahim Mahmud dengan bersenjatakan senjata api, parang, pedang dan buluh runcing. Pihak polis telah menyeru kepada penyokong-penyokong Ibrahim Mahmud supaya meletakkan senjata dan menyerah diri secara aman. Demi mempertahankan diri dan mematahkan serangan tersebut, pihka polis terpaksa menggunakan senajta api dan melepaskan tembakan.

Peristiwa tersebut telah mengorbankan 4 orang anggota polsi dan 14 orang awam termasuk Ibrahim Mahmud manakala 23 anggota polis dan 14 orang awam mengalami kecederaan.

KUALA LUMPUR, 26 APRIL, 2010: DAP Senator Tunku Abdul Aziz has called on the government to stop any political interference on local news providers to ensure that there is a freedom of press in the country

Speaking to reporters at Dewan Negara lobby, Abdul Aziz said he would raise a motion during in the afternoon session parliament sitting on the matter to ensure that the right for media to report any event in the country be respected.

“I will raise the matter in the parliament because I believe Parliament should not take this incident lightly, which demonstrates political interference by the government including wife of the Prime Minister, who is a non-executive member of the government.

“Such interference will surely curtail freedom of press and discourage healthy political debates,” he said.

Abdul Aziz said his reaction was in response to the recent incidence, where NTV7 producer for its Editor’s Time programme, Joshua Wong resigned as a result of an alleged pressure from the government. Wong had alleged that the government had pressured him to practice “self-sensorship” on his future programme. Wong was also asked by his management to provide an explanation over the content of the TV programme he directed last week.

Abdul Aziz said it was unfortunate that the government was taking this step to censor a private TV station which had a duty to its viewers to report.

He said the government should not restrict what the TV station wanted to report on or limit the guest speakers they wanted to invite to discuss any political situation.

Editor’s Time is a forum where politicians are given a chance to express their political views openly and encourages rational and critical discussions.

It was probably his impartial attitude and fairness that saved his life when faced with a life threatening situation after being surrounded by about 200 PAS supporters.

Reflecting on the chaotic incident, Tunku Muzafar said he was heading to Kampung Memali in a police patrol car when stopped and surrounded by about 200 PAS supporters who were on the verge of attacking him.

Fortunately, the PAS leader had recognised him as a fair police officer and immediately shouted at the supporters: “Ini Pak Tunku OCPD Baling, (This is Pak Tunku the OCPD of Baling, do not harm him, I have met him before and he can be trusted.”

Tunku Muzafar, 67, on Monday met Muhamad Yusof Husin (now a Senator), the PAS leader who stopped his supporters from attacking him 24 years ago, at the Parliament lobby here.

“It was Muhamad Yusof who played an important role in defusing a very tense situation because the PAS supporters were angry and out of control,” said Tunku Muzafar after the meeting which was arranged by his brother Senator Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim.

Tunku Muzafar who has since retired, came from Kedah to pay homage to Muhamad Yusof, 55, who is now the state Liaison secretary for Kedah.

“During the incident, I was 31 and a PAS committee member in Baling. But though I was young, I could think rationally and knew the value of a human life,” said Muhamad Yusof.

During the Memali tragedy on Nov 19, 1985, 18 people were killed, many injured and hundreds arrested by police during an attempt to arrest a Religious Scholar, Ibrahim Mahmud or better known as Ibrahim Libya.

– BERNAMA

KUALA LUMPUR, Dis 21 — Bekas Ketua Polis Baling, Tunku Muzafar Tunku Ibrahim, hari ini bertemu seorang anggota PAS yang menyelamatkannya daripada diserang dalam peristiwa Memali pada tahun 1985.

Ketika mengimbas kembali kejadian itu, Tunku Muzafar berkata ketika beliau sedang menuju ke Kampung Memali menaiki sebuah kereta peronda, kenderaannya dikepung 200 penyokong PAS tetapi tiba-tiba beliau terdengar satu suara memekik: “Ini Pak Tunku OCPD Baling, jangan apa-apakan dia, saya biasa berbincang dengan dia, saya tahu dia boleh dipercayai.”

Tunku Muzafar, 67, hari ini buat pertama kalinya selepas 24 tahun berlakunya peristiwa itu, bertemu semula dengan orang yang menyelamatkannya, Muhamad Yusof Husin (sekarang senator) di lobi Parlimen di sini.

“Muhamad Yusoflah orang yang memainkan peranan sehingga dapat meredakan kemarahan penyokong PAS sehingga saya terselamat,” kata Tunku Muzafar kepada pemberita selepas pertemuan yang diaturkan oleh abangnya, Senator TunkuAbdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim.

Tunku Muzafar datang dari Kedah semata-mata untuk menemui Muhamad Yusof kerana berasa terhutang budi kepadanya kerana dapat mententeramkan keadaan yang amat getir ketika itu.

Muhamad Yusof, 55, yang ketika itu merupakan seorang anggota jawatankuasa PAS Baling, berkata beliau menahan penyokong Pas daripada menyerang Tunku Muzafar kerana menghargai sikapnya yang adil terhadap semua tanpa mengira fahaman politik mereka.

“Ketika kejadian, saya masih muda iaitu 31 tahun, tetapi ia tidak menghalang saya daripada berfikir secara rasional untuk menghargai nyawa orang lain,” kata Muhamad Yusof yang kini Setiausaha Perhubungan PAS Kedah.

Dalam kejadian pada Nov 19 1985 itu seramai 18 orang terbunuh dan ramai lagi tercedera ketika polis melancarkan operasi menangkap guru agama, Ibrahim Mahmud atau lebih dikenali dengan nama Ibrahim Libya. — Bernama

The Royal Malaysia Police, rightly or wrongly, is perceived as the leader of the pack, and this is a perception that will be difficult to shake off because there have been far too many unexplained incidents involving deaths in custody which have led people to believe that torture, in one form or another, is part of the standard police operating procedure. All this is unfortunate because in a police service as old as ours, it is replete with its own detailed rules and procedures governing every conceivable aspect of modern policing. So, what really has gone wrong with the police?

The only reasonable explanation we can offer is that because of the generally abysmal quality of the officer cadre, these rules are more honoured in their breach than their observance. All this leads me to my favourite observation that there are no bad rank and file, only bad officers. The Inspector-General must be held accountable for the present sorry state of affairs of the service. The responsibility is his and, this dear Tan Sri Musa is the ultimate price and challenge of true leadership.

Those shiny bits and pieces elbowing for space on your overcrowded epaulette have far greater significance than their decorative effect. They symbolise the power conferred on you to do what is right, according to the law for the benefit of all Malaysian citizens, without reference to race, colour or creed and for whose rights to safety and security you took an oath, a long time ago, to uphold.

The overwhelming majority of urbanites do not rate your leadership in curbing serious crimes too highly. Many, again rightly or wrongly, believe that you have reached the limits of your competence. It is time for change in the stewardship of the police: we deserve batter, don’t you think?

It is time, too, for the foot dragging over the IPCMC or to give it its full name, the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission to stop. As a member of the Royal Commission chaired by Tun Dzaidin inquiring into our police service in 2004-2005, listening to the many oral submissions, reading large numbers of written documents, and together with visits to the Hong Kong Police and Scotland Yard in London, I am more than ever convinced that there will be no change in the police culture of impunity until and unless Najib has the political will, and fire in his belly, to put IPCMC not on the back burner, but in the driving seat where it really belongs.

It works, with minor adjustments to suit local conditions, in the UK, Hong Kong and Australia among other countries that embrace unequivocally the rights of citizens to protection against the criminal elements.

The IPCMC is not about the chattering masses interfering with legitimate police work: it is there to protect both the people and the police. The police, believe it or not, need the IPCMC more than the rest of us in order to protect themselves against unfair and unjustified public criticisms.

The police plead for public support and cooperation in their fight against crime. They do realise, after all, that they cannot do it alone, but do they know why members of the community are not falling over themselves to bear witness to crimes committed in their communities? A modicum of human respect would assuredly help in restoring public confidence. Treat witnesses as suspects, employ illegal methods of interrogation and you turn potential friends into potentially hostile and indifferent citizens.

The police must change in their attitude to the public. They must think more about human rights, stewardship and duty in the public interest rather than their rights under the Police Act. They have chosen the police as a career and as the saying goes, the lot of a policeman is not a happy one, and for the IGP, whose own reputation is on the decline in the estimation of the public, trying to lead a beleaguered force out of unfriendly territory cannot be everyone’s idea of fun.

A man in his position should reflect upon the futility of holding the fort against a fast rising tide public opinion. An extension of contract? Surely not. Najib’s 1 Malaysia cannot take root and flourish in an environment of public indifference to the police in whom all trust has but evaporated. Police reform based on the 125 recommendations of the Dzaidin Royal Commission must be the starting point for a thorough overhaul of the Royal Malaysia Police.

Published on August 1, 2009 | My Sinchew

Nazri of all people should not be too quick off the mark to denounce the trio or any one else for that matter as “crooks” because I expect he himself would be the last to claim that he is a person of complete moral rectitude and that he has not once offended against the code of ethics of his chosen profession, if one could dignify the practice of politics as a profession, in the best sense of the word.

Before I go on, let me say that Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz has always been kind and courteous to me, a gesture I greatly appreciate and happily reciprocate. I write this more in sorrow than anger.

I would not normally give two hoots about Nazri’s boorish and tiresome behaviour, but when he has the gall to go out of his way to blacken the good name of a distinguished former civil servant and a fine gentleman of great honour and integrity, then I feel duty bound to say that his remarks are clearly beyond the pale. I cannot claim to know the other two gentlemen as well as I have known Hanif, but that does not mean that I am not equally saddened by Nazri’s totally uncalled for remarks about them. Nazri has overstepped the bounds of common decency.

In calling Hanif a “crook,” Nazri has strayed into the realm of intellectual dishonesty. As a minister of the crown, he owes it to them whom he described as “crooks” to justify his unkind and indefensible outburst. However, based on the man’s history of intransigence, it would be totally out of character were he to acknowledge that he had wronged these pillars of society by his mindless utterance. Being sensitive is obviously not his strong point.

Any one who has had the privilege of knowing Hanif will readily understand why he continues to be held in such high esteem long, long after he had retired as the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), a position that in his time represented complete and utter dedication, personal and professional honesty and integrity in discharging his duties and responsibilities. It is worth reminding ourselves that it was not for Tan Sri Hanif, as he then was, to go cap in hand to ask for an extension of contract. He offered voluntarily to step down on at least three occasions, and each time his request was turned own by the Prime Minister of the day.

He was the last of that special breed of distinguished Malaysian IGPs who maintained the honour and prestige of the Royal Malaysia Police. He was without any doubt the most outstanding Malaysian IGP to have served this country.

With possibly one exception, his successors have generally been a disgrace to the King’s uniform. A harsh judgement, perhaps, but I stand by my opinion.

AN EXTENSION FOR THE IGP?

And all this leads me to a consideration of whether the Najib administration should give in to pressure from certain quarters to renew the current IGP’s contract. The Prime Minister I am told keeps his ears close to the ground, and if this is true, then no doubt he must be aware of the sentiments of the overwhelming majority of concerned Malaysians about Tan Sri Musa Hassan’s continued service with the Royal Malaysia Police. No IGP in recent memory has been pilloried to the extent that Musa has been, and for very good reasons. The public perception of both the man and the service he leads has been anything but complimentary.

Najib, the self-anointed reformer, makes some hard choices on a whole range of issues on a daily basis, but in the case of the nation’s IGP, he must listen to what the people are saying. What they are saying is that they do not have any confidence in the ability of the police under the direction of the IGP to confront the country’s criminal elements decisively. The do not believe that the IGP has what it takes to keep this country safe. They fear for their safety, and based on the current state of affairs, this is understandable. Police crime statistics are fine as far as they go, but they are no comfort to those who find themselves crime victims with no prospect of getting police protection in a timely manner.

In short they would like to see a change in the top police leadership. The police must surely have a succession plan. I do not believe that no one is ready to step into Musa’s shoes? What, heaven forbid, if Musa should fall under a bus?

After all, we do have a Deputy IGP, all ready and able, waiting in the wings for the cue to perform. By the law of averages, he cannot be worse that his superior. To extend the IGP’s contract given the prevailing mood is to fly in the face of public opinion. Public opinion does matter.

Published on July 18, 2009 | The Malaysian Insider