Abdullah should personally respond in Parliament to the two RM10 salary cut motions during the debate on the 2006 Budget estimates for Internal Security Ministry – one against the Inspector-General of Police and the other against Noh Omar

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Media Statement

by Lim Kit Siang  
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(Petaling Jaya, Sunday): The Prime Minister-cum-Internal Security Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should personally respond in Parliament to the two RM10 salary cut motions during the debate on the 2006 Budget estimates for Internal Security Ministry.

The two RM10 salary cut motions will make Malaysian parliamentary history as never before had two RM10 salary cut motions been proposed in Parliament for anyone single Ministry during the ministry-by-ministry scrutiny of the annual budgetary estimates.

The RM10 salary cut motion is important not on the amount of money involved but as a parliamentary censure debate   for the sins of omission or commission of the subject of the salary cut motion.  The debate on these two motions will be either tomorrow evening or Tuesday.

The first RM10 salary cut motion against the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Mohamad Bakri Omar  will be moved by DAP MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok while I will move the RM10 salary cut motion against the Deputy Internal Security Minister, Datuk Seri Noh Omar.

It will be most  ridiculous for either one  of the two Deputy Internal Security Ministers, Noh Omar and Chia Kwang Chye, to reply on behalf of government in the two RM10 salary cut motions, as both are under a cloud of censure.   Chia Kwang Chye was severely criticized in Parliament in October for his "parrot-like" answer giving the same word-for-word reply  to questions asking for a  progress report in the implementation of the 125 recommendations of the Police Royal Commission in the previous five months – as if time had   stood still and nothing had happened vis-à-vis the 125 recommendations during the preceding five months.

It would be a crying shame if the Parliamentary Secretary to the Internal Security Ministry is entrusted with the responsibility to reply to the two RM10 cut motions – as it would mean a grave lack of government seriousness  about police reforms.

I am sure Abdullah is aware of growing criticisms that he is not doing justice as   Minister for Internal Security and Minister of Finance apart from being Prime Minister, as he could not give adequate time and attention  to these two major ministries  to ensure that they are given  proper leadership and  guidance to effect reforms.

Abdullah's appearance in Parliament  to personally respond to the two RM10 salary cut motions during the 2006 Budget committee stage debate on the Ministry of Internal Security will be a test whether he could do justice as Minister for Internal Security by appearing in Parliament  to provide leadership of  the Ministry  and accept parliamentary   responsibility for the police force.

Abdullah should give a report to Parliament on three specific and important matters:

• A  detailed and comprehensive report of the status of implementation of the 125 recommendations of the Police Royal Commission, in particular on the proposal to establish a Independent Police Misconduct and Complaints Commission (IPCMC) – giving time-frames for the implementation for each recommendation.
• Former Inspector-General of Police Tun Hanif Omar said in his Sunday Star column "Point of View" – "The police and their powers of intimate search" said: "Whilst changing the primary laws – the CPC (Criminal Procedure Code)   and the Police Act – can take time as they will have to be passed by Parliament, changing the Lockup Rules and the IGSOs merely requires the assent of the Minister and the IGP respectively and can be done within days."

Abdullah should report to Parliament whether he has set in motion to effect, "within days", amendments to the Lockup Rules and the IGSOs (Inspector-General's Standing Orders) to bring them "in line with the best practices in human rights-aware countries such as the European Community and England".

• Report on the nationality of the woman in the naked ear-squat videoclip as the continued cover-up of this information until the outcome of the Dzaiddin(2)   Commission of Inquiry in another month will neither serve the public interest in police accountability and transparency nor the country's  international interests of fostering good foreign relations whether with China or other countries.

(04/12/2005)