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Media Statement (2)
by Lim Kit Siang  
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(Parliament, Monday): The statement by the UMNO Youth leader, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein in Kepala Batas yesterday on the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) raised both eyebrows and questions.

For instance, whether Hishammuddin is preparing

• to lead the open opposition among Ministers in the Cabinet to the establishment of IPCMC;  and/or
• to be  the spokesman of the three police organizations, Senior Police Officers Association Inspector Branch, Senior Police Officers Association (Gazetted Branch) and Lower Rank Police Association, opposed to the establishment of IPCMC.

What Hishammuddin was reported to have said in Kepala Batas is open to the ambivalent interpretations.

The Star reported Hishammuddin as saying that UMNO Youth was “not likely to support” the setting up of IPCMC, arguing:  “The commission is not going to solve our problems. There are many mechanisms already in place for checks and balances in the police force.”

However, New Straits Times has a different report, quoting  him as saying that UMNO Youth plans to meet the police top brass before deciding whether to support the proposed formation of IPCMC.

Hishammuddin should be given the opportunity to clarify his position, although his ambivalent stand is nonetheless  a matter of grave concern as he presents the spectacle of the first and a key   Cabinet Minister openly breaking ranks with the Prime Minister  on the issue of IPCMC.

In fact,  Hishammuddin has thrown into doubt Abdullah’s cast-iron re-assurance less than 24 hours ago about the establishment of IPCMC.

When Abdullah said in Kepala Batas on Saturday that the  Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) must accept any decision made by the government on the setting up of the IPCMC  to monitor the force, and that the Attorney-General's Office was studying the matter in detail, including legal provisions, its name, structure and powers, it was in the context of the Prime Minister’s public announcement on January 24 that the IPCMC would be set up.

Now, however, Hishammuddin has described a scenario that the IPCMC might not be set up.

Why is the Prime Minister not getting the full and unequivocal support from a key Cabinet Minister and the UMNO Youth leader for the establishment of the IPCMC which Abdullah had publicly committed the government?  How many other Cabinet Ministers have doubts and reservations about the Royal Police Commission’s most important recommendation to transform the RMAF into a clean, efficient, professional, human rights-sensitive and world-class police service ?

(06/02/2006)