Strengthen Ipcc Bill With Greater Investigative Powers Says Maria Chin

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Pakatan Harapan’s Maria Chin Abdullah and Kasthuri Patto favour the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission over the Independent Police Conduct Commission.PETALING JAYA: Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah wants the government to strengthen the Independent Police Conduct Commission (IPCC) Bill to give more powers to the watchdog to investigate police misconduct and death in custody cases.
She said while she preferred the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), she hoped the government would strengthen the IPCC Bill by “closing all existing gaps that hinder investigations and actions by IPCC commission members”.
According to Maria, the IPCC would limit the power of the commissioners in accessing classified documents crucial in investigating police misconduct and deaths in custody.
“There are conditions where evidence can be classified under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) 1972. IPCC commission members will not have the power to access documents classified under OSA.

“Therefore, the Commission will not have the power to take the cases any further,” Maria told FMT.
She added that there was no need for Putrajaya to rush the passing of the IPCC Bill.
“They should allow the parliamentary select committee to discuss the 2019 report made on the IPCMC. This is so elements from the IPCMC could be integrated into the IPCC Bill to make it stronger.”
Meanwhile, Batu Kawan MP Kasthuri Patto also criticised the IPCC Bill by describing it as “watered-down, toothless and less powerful than even the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC)”.
Kasthuri said the IPCC Bill had loopholes that could jeopardise investigations into police misconduct and death in custody cases. She added that the Bill deprived Parliament of the power to look into the Commission’s affairs.
She too cited a key difference between the IPCMC and the IPCC, saying that under the former, if there are any cases of police abuse in lockups, the Commission could walk into police stations unannounced to conduct spot checks.
“However, under the IPCC, commission members have to request for permission to conduct spot checks. This will jeopardise the investigations,” she said when contacted.
Kasthuri added that the IPCMC, in the long term, will be beneficial to the police.
“We have been witnessing many cases of death in custody. Don’t the police want this to end?”
Despite her issue with the lack of means to hold police accountable for their actions, Kasthuri felt that the government needed to look into the welfare of the police so that police personnel would be more receptive to the idea of independent oversight.
“Both the welfare and needs of police personnel as well as the integrity, accountability and responsibility of the police force must be given equal importance. Both need to be done in parallel,” she said.
The IPCC Bill was introduced in 2020 to replace the IPCMC Bill that had been tabled in Parliament by the Pakatan Harapan government in 2019. The decision to replace the Bill was made by the Cabinet after the change in government in March 2020.
Earlier today, eight NGOs handed a memorandum to MPs in Parliament urging them to reject the IPCC. - FMT

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