After assurances by Inspector-General of Police Norian Mai yesterday that action will be taken to overcome the weaknesses in the police force, several human rights and civil rights groups urged the police to take more concrete steps to check abuse of police powers.

Among several suggestions, these groups which have worked actively o­n police-related issues said serious thought would have to be put into setting up independent investigative channels to look into allegations of police misdeeds.

Time for action

According to Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) commissioner Prof Hamdan Adnan ( photo ), o­ne of the key tasks of the police is to regain public confidence by showing its sincerity in such efforts in regaining credibility.

"It is about time that people saw things happening rather than just talk. Instead of having (complaints dealt with) by its own disciplinary board, there should be an independent panel which could also involve Suhakam," he said when contacted today.

Hamdan said the credibility problems suffered by the force could be gauged from the number of complaints received by the human rights commission.

"Suhakam receives quite a lot of complaints on brutality, problems in lock-ups, and corruption. We have brought them up with the police and the police said they would do something about (the complaints)," he said.

However, asked if the police have taken any responding action, Hamdan said, "We don't know."

During his speech in conjunction with the police day celebrations in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, Norian ( photo ) conceded that some criticism against the police included alleged corruption, abuse of power, lackadaisical attitude, rudeness, carelessness when carrying out duties and involvement in criminal activities.

The police chief said although disciplinary action had been taken against police officers found to have committed such offences, the public continued to hold a negative perception of the police.

Complaint against Suhakam

Norian's speech came at a time when the police force is faced with strong criticism in recent months after the March 9 Palm Court Condominiums fiasco during which over 150 Indian professionals with valid visas were arrested on suspicion of being illegal immigrants.

The resultant diplomatic quarrel between Malaysia and India seemed set to worsen until Acting Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi issued an apology to New Delhi last week.

Although the police had earlier denied any wrongdoing, Norian yesterday admitted that some police personnel had not adhered to "operational procedures".

Commenting on police reception of Suhakam's recent round of prison visits , Hamdan said the police had complained against at least o­ne unscheduled visit he made to a prison in Penang last month.

"I was supposed to go to the prison in the afternoon but I showed up in the morning. They were supposed to be cleaning up the lock-up. There was a complaint that I had made the visit without senior officials present (but) I was just doing my job," said the commissioner.

Questioned if this proved that conditions in the prisons were still not improving, Hamdan said the fact that the police were concerned showed that Suhakam's visits do make an impact.

"If we visit more lock-ups then they will continue to keep it up. It is also a good thing if they think we might visit anytime, so we hope (conditions) will improve (with time)."

Appoint ombudsman

Meanwhile, labour rights organisation Tenaganita expressed reservations that public confidence towards the police could be regained without a major change in police attitude and work ethics.

"So far, the police have o­nly been able to admit to (wrongdoing) in cases where they face a lot of pressure. This shows that public and international pressure is very important (to ensure) that the police investigate (allegations of misconduct among officers)," said Tenaganita director Irene Fernandez during a telephone interview.

"The complaints against the police are nothing new . It is a cause for concern that o­nly with diplomatic pressure that action was taken. It seems that there is still a lack of political will to really commit to cleaning up the police force," she said in reference to the Palm Court incident.

To address this, Fernandez ( photo ) suggested for an independent inquiry to first identify the problems faced by the police force. Then, there should be an appointment of an ombudsman who can continue to oversee and investigate future incidents involving the police.

"The ombudsman should be appointed by Parliament and is thereby independent of the government unlike the Anti-Corruption Agency which still falls under the Prime Minister's Department and Suhakam which falls under the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

"An ombudsman would be more effective to provide checks and balances (on enforcement authorities). Right now, the police carry out their own investigations and they have appeared to be more (intent o­n) protecting rather than correcting themselves," she said.

Investigate unresolved cases

In a press statement, DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang (photo) said the IGP had failed to address several other shortcomings of the police force - that of "insensitivity, disregard and violation of human rights".

"Norian Mai should set up a special Human Rights Police Unit...tasked with the human rights education of all police ranks and the development of a human rights culture in the (force)," he said.

To this purpose, Lim said the police should look to guidance from Suhakam based on the commission's experience in handling issues of human rights over the past three years.

In a separate statement, human rights lawyer and pro tem secretary-general of Parti Reformasi Insan Malaysia (Prim) P Uthayakumar ( photo ) commended the police on taking action against those in the force who have been found to have committed various offences but said more action is now needed in dealing with several other unresolved issues.

"We commend the swift and prompt action taken in the (Palm Court incident) and the following apology and admission that police procedures were not followed.

"We o­nce again call upon the IGP to apply the same standards to other cases (such as) the Kampung Medan tragedy, deaths in police custody and cases involving shooting to death by the police," said Uthayakumar who is also the legal adviser to the police watch and human rights committee of the party.

In relation to the cases, the lawyer pointed out that based on recent statistics provided by the government, 34 persons have died while in police custody between the January 2000 and September 2002, while a total of 635 persons have been shot to death by police over the past 10 years.

"It has also been two years since the (Kampung Medan) tragedy when over 100 innocent persons were killed and/or seriously injured," he noted.

The police watch committee's work had gained prominence after it highlighted the custodial deaths of several youths allegedly due to beatings while in detention. It won the Suaram Human Rights Award for 2002.

Uthayakumar, in his capacity as Prim leader, had also continuously called for an inquiry into the Kampung Medan racial clashes in March 2001, but to date there no action has been taken on the matter.