Few were surprised when the naked ear-squat video made it into our homes. Even fewer were surprised that the 71-second clip was an inside job, allegedly shot by a peeping-Tom cop.

That says a lot about our perception of the police force. Police abuse? Ah, heard that one before.

As the Squatgate scandal unfurled, the spin-doctors were quick to push the damage-control button. This was the work of a few bad apples in the force, they chirped. Heard that one before too.

We, however, beg to differ. The rot in the police force is systemic. This is not about a few black sheep. The black-eye incident seven years ago showed the depth of the rot among our law enforcers. It goes all the way to the top.

Clearly, the bad cops are calling the shots in the force. The good ones - and there are more than a few - turn a blind eye to such abuses. Such a state of affairs, much like the movie 'Serpico', is again not surprising. After all, we go after our whistle-blowers even before they can barely toot.

This head-in-the-sand attitude must end. But will it? This is not first time we hear about such abuses. It certainly won't be the last.

What's really surprising is this - it took almost three weeks for the truth to be told.

It is now clear that the police knew the nude-squat victim was a local Malay soon after the video was made public, perhaps even before that. The mainstream media got it wrong when they assumed that the woman was a Chinese national. But why didn't the authorities correct this gross mistake?

Was there a cover-up? So far, there is still no clear answers.

Conspiracy theories abound

Given the dearth of information, conspiracy theorists - and there are many in Malaysia - are working overtime. One theory was mooted by none other than Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang.

He suggested that the woman's nationality was held back by the government because key ruling party Umno was worried that the truth - that she was a Malay Malaysian - would hurt its chances of winning Kelantan's Pengkalan Pasir by-election.

This theory is not so far-fetched. After all, the government extradited suspected Thai militant Hamzah Mat Saud, also known as Osama, two days after the by-election. It generally accepted within some Thai circles that the deportation could not have come earlier - which Bangkok had repeatedly demanded - because Umno would lose votes among Muslim Malays by being seen to be soft on the southern Thailand issue.

Deputy Internal Affairs Minister Noh Omar, the man who is effectively in charge of the police, claimed that he only knew the victim's nationality through the newspapers, despite receiving a full report of the police probe into the scandal days after the video was made public.

Obviously, the police had failed to promptly inform the government of this crucial detail of their investigation, which could have helped defuse the brewing furore with China. Surely, heads must roll for this glaring omission.

However, if Noh was lying, then it raises an even graver question: did the government conceal the information to shore up its chances in the Pengkalan Pasir by-election? If this is the case, it amounts to a government putting its party's interests before national interests.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has ingeniously argued that even if the truth was told, "there were no way for the people to believe the police". He was right - the credibility of the police force has hit rock bottom.

But wouldn't it help restore their tatter reputation had the police reveal the information and this was later affirmed by the independent ear-squat commission? Or perhaps Abdullah himself did not quite believe the police? That will surely require a separate editorial.

The prime minister must come clean with what he knows about Squatgate. And no, we don't need another independent commission for this.

Same soup, less spicy

Perhaps the scandal would not have happened, or be better dealt with, had there been an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission.

This was the key plank of the Royal Police Commission's 125 recommendations. The law which will set this police watchdog into motion - already drafted by the commission - should have been debated in Parliament by now.

We have called for it to be tabled in the last parliamentary session. It wasn't.

And this has been the hallmark of Abdullah's government - dilly-dallying and hand-wringing.

Consider also the earlier episodes involving two of his ministers - Rafidah Aziz and Isa Samad. Both should have been axed, pronto - Rafidah for the AP 'kings' scandal and Isa for money politics. Instead Rafidah stayed put, while Isa was 'persuaded' to quit - two months after he was found guilty of vote-buying.

Not to mention Noh 'Go-home-if-you-don't-like-it-here' Omar - he was given no more than a slap on the wrist for his oafish remark. And the much talked about cabinet reshuffle early this year is just that. Talk.

Indeed, apart from the initial feel good sentiment, there have been but little changes under Abdullah. Same soup, less spicy - that's how it has been put.

Malaysia needs wide-ranging reforms - from the way our police treat citizens, and yes, non-citizens too, to the way we do business.

Abdullah appears not able to get a grip on this task. The nation has been running very much on auto-pilot. He should begin by doing away with many of our repressive laws. Reforms must be institutionalised instead of being at the whim and fancy of whoever who happens to be in power.

We need not spell out the laws which should either be repealed or amended. We know, you know, Abdullah knows.

The prime minister, on assuming the mantle of power, had appealed to Malaysians to work with him. Two years on, Malaysians are asking - is Abdullah willing to work with us?