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?

KUALA LUMPUR 3 Mei – Naib Pengerusi DAP, Senator Tunku Abdul Aziz Ibrahim mendesak Ketua Polis Negara, Tan Sri Musa Hassan meletak jawatan dengan segera berikutan kelemahan serta kegagalan beliau menjalankan tanggungjawab menjaga keselamatan negara terutama sekali apabila peningkatan kadar jenayah semakin berleluasa.

Tunku Abdul Aziz berkata desakan itu juga dibuat berhubung kenyataan Musa yang mengugut untuk menarik balik anggota polis daripada berkawal di jalan raya selepas insiden remaja berusia 14 tahun, Aminulrasyid Amzah yang mati ditembak polis di Shah Alam pada 26 April lalu.

Katanya, reaksi Musa itu sekaligus melambangkan sikapnya yang tidak boleh menerima kritikan orang lain apabila sesuatu isu berhubung keselamatan awam mahupun kelemahan institusi Polis DiRaja Malaysia dibangkitkan.

“Dia ni memang tak boleh terima kritikan langsung. Kalau kita buat apa-apa kritik, dia terus mengugut untuk menarik balik anggotanya daripada menjalankan tugas. Ini jelas menunjukkan bahawa dia seorang yang tak boleh menerima kritikan orang lain sedangkan tugas utama beliau adalah menjaga keselamatan negara. Dia ingat institusi polis dia yang punya,” katanya dalam sidang media di lobi Parlimen hari ini selepas sidang Dewan Negara.

Dalam pada itu, Tunku Abdul Aziz turut mengkritik peranan PDRM yang sebelum ini memaklumkan bahawa kadar jenayah di Malaysia berjaya diturunkan sedangkan hakikat sebenar berlaku sebaliknya.

“Apa yang dia cakapkan bahawa kadar jenayah telahpun menurun adalah tidak betul. Jika kita tengok masa sekarang di tempat dan kawasan yang kita tinggal baik di bandar mahupun di kampung jenayah semakin bertambah.

“Saya baru balik dari Tawau dan Tawau paling banyak berlaku jenayah di Malaysia dan sekarang banyak bandar dan kampung di Semenanjung dah jadi macam Tawau juga,” katanya lagi.

Sehubungan itu, beliau menggesa Ketua Polis Negara meletakkan jawatan dan posisinya digantikan oleh orang lain yang lebih layak.

“Dah nak bersara lagi enam bulan bagi jadi KPN, lepas itu apa dia (kementerian) buat sambung balik lagi setahun dua tahun, tak guna. Kita mahukan orang lain yang lebih bagus daripadanya. Kalau dia mudapun sekalipun kita tak peduli, sekurang-kurangnya bagi dia peluang dalam jangka lima tahun untuk merubah dan memperbaiki sistem polis yang sememangnya dah teruk.

“Kalau kita masih lagi mempertahankan KPN yang bersikap sebegini, saya ingat negara kita akan jadi lebih teruk daripada sekarang,” katanya lagi.

Terdahulu bercakap dalam sidang media yang sama, Senator S Ramakrishnan menggesa PDRM mengemukakan satu sistem prosedur yang berkesan bagi menangani kes tembakan oleh anggota polis.

“Walaupun KPN telah bersetuju untuk menubuhkan satu inkues tetapi perkara ini mestilah dibincangkan juga memandangkan pada tahun 2008 juga 2009 ada kes yang langsung tidak disiasat.

“Berapa banyak kes orang awam mati ditembak polis sebelum ini dan sehingga sekarang kejadian seperti ini masih berterusan sehingga melibatkan remaja berusia 14 tahun.

“Ini bukan kejadian pertama kali berlaku. Sudah banyak kali dan sehingga sekarang tiada apa-apa siasatan. Ini menunjukkan polis tidak cekap. Sepatutnya sebaik sahaja selepas tembakan berlaku, siasatan segera hendaklah dijalankan,” katanya.

Ramakrishnan bakal membentangkan usul tergempar berhubung kes kematian Aminulrasyid di Dewan Negara esok.

Menurutnya, tujuan usul berkenaan adalah bagi menyegerakan kes tersebut supaya disiasat secara profesional dan telus serta mendapat pembelaan yang sewajarnya.

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