The much-awaited Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) which was missing from the royal address today was the "greatest disappointment", according to veteran opposition leader Lim Kit Siang.

This came despite Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin saying in the address - presented to him by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi - that there is still room of improvement in the police force.

Below are some comments from the MPs on the royal address:

Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor)

lim kit siang 02 As the royal address representing the government’s policy, one would have expected it to be a reflection of the March political tsunami but apart from the repetition of the tentative reforms on the judiciary and fight against corruption, there seems to be no idea, an communication that the political tsunami - a major political historic event - has taken place.

The greatest disappointment is there is no mention about the government to reconsider and to establish the IPCMC, that is the test case whether the government is serious about government reform. The lack of its mention in the royal address reflects the lack of political will whether on the part of the police or other authorities.

Yusmadi Yusoff (PKR-Balik Pulau)

yusmadi yusof pkr youth I think the King wants us to re-emphasise the importance of public safety and, of course, one of the main agendas pending approval is IPCMC. I think reading from his statement, it gives a very good signal that the agenda is still relevant.

Apart from IPCMC, there is no other major proposal on the table. Rather than to create a new agenda, it would be better to discuss this.

(On MPs being told not to use Parliament as a venue to further their individual political interests but to make constructive suggestions and substantive views:)

When the King said members have to observe the good name and reputation of parliament, any incident which involves members of parliament has to be further scrutinised.

Mukhriz Mahathir (BN-Jerlun)

(On MPs being told not to use Parliament as a venue to further their individual political interests but to place national interest as priority:)

mukhriz mahathir That is very important because, after all, we all were elected by the people and it is for the people that we are providing the service. He needed to remind us of that so that we don’t go into parliament bringing in individual interests and turning everything into polemics. I think it’s important that he said that.

(Do y ou think people would be disappointed that he did not mention IPCMC? )

He did say that while he is happy with the developments within the police, he said there is always room for improvement and there are still many things that can be done to improve the police force. I think that was enough. The IPCMC was just one (of the proposals). It’s not going to solve everything.

Razali Ibrahim (BN-Muar)

The King has high hopes that the MPs will deliver, do their job based on integrity, credibility and to put politics aside.

(On improvements for the police force)

I do have some suggestions and views. One of the issues during the general election is safety. IPCMC is one of the methods and maybe just one suggestion by the government but in terms of implementation, there are so many things we have to re-look. When you try to solve issues like that, you have yo look at the bigger picture because all that are intertwined.

Ngeh Koo Ham (DAP-Beruas)

(Commenting on the King’s reference to inflation having gone up to two percent:)

ngeh koo ham I find the speech by the King this morning reflective of the government’s position.

The statement said inflation had risen to only two percent. This is totally unrealistic. The people on the ground will tell you that inflation has reached more than two percent. I believe such a representation is not accurate.

The government must be realistic and in touch with the ground. Only then can we address the issues of the people properly. If we still keep ourselves cocooned or in our ivory towers not knowing the public’s sense of frustration, especially the poor, then we are not representing the people.

Dr D Jeyakumar (PKR-Sungai Siput)

One thing that I was unhappy about was the way the King talked about the services as serving as a growth engine for the economy.

If you take water, health and transportation and you commercialise these things by increasing (liberalisation of) investments and economic wealth, invariably, it’s the poor who will suffer.

dr jeyakumar 180108 You set up more facilities for health tourism, for example, you could bring in health tourists from the Middle East and other countries by setting up high-quality but expensive medical treatment here. You’ll get high-quality medical facilities that are cheaper than in the West and people will flock to Malaysia, but it will lead invariably to a brain drain from government hospitals which are already suffering from lack of doctors. You’ll be depleting the government hospitals of their doctors even further.

This is the kind of thing we have been arguing against in the Coalition Against Privatisation of Healthcare. Freeze the extension of the private hospitals. What’s already there, leave it. Don’t let it expand. At the same time, however, improve the public sector, the pay scale for doctors.

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