Serious complaints against the police made during the current public inquiries by a16-member special commission will be acted upon immediately, commission chairperson Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah said today.

"The prime minister wants the public to be kept informed on the progress we have been making and he thought that if there were any complaints made during our public inquiries, it is best we look into these immediately," he said.

Dzaiddin said complaints which were urgent and of public interest would now be referred to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), who is to conduct an immediate special investigation and report back to the commission.

Once the IGP's findings on that complaint is received, the commission will make its conclusions and advice the cabinet and the Prime Minister's Department accordingly, said the former chief justice.

However, he said there was no deadline for the IGP to report back to the commission. "They are expected to investigate and report back to us as and when requested," he added.

Three cases have since been referred to the police chief, said Dzaiddin, with one already solved.

Custody deaths

This, he said, was related to the detention of a juvenile in a Shah Alam police lock-up who was placed together with adult male detainees. Police have since removed him from the lock-up.

He added the other two cases involved an assault in Sabah and a cheating case in Penang which the IGP was still investigating.

On deaths in police custody complaints submitted by non-governmental organisation - the Police Watch and Human Rights Committee - Dzaiddin said a working committee of the commission would be deliberating the NGO's report.

"We are not going to speak about that at the moment," he said, adding that the commission's conclusions would be revealed at a later stage.

The three-month-old Special Commission to Enhance the Operations and Management of the Royal Malaysian Police - as it is known in full - has received numerous complaints since it started holding nationwide public inquiries last month.

The complaints ranged from overcrowding in prisons and detention centres, to the ill-treatment of detainees and improper police conduct and procedures.

Mixed response

The commission's face-to-face meetings with the public will continue next Thursday, with two teams of commissioners paying concurrent visits to Melaka and Kuantan. One week after that, the teams will be visiting Alor Setar and Ipoh.

In its meeting in Sabah and Sarawak last week, the commission said it was disappointed by the poor response in contrast to the 'extremely good' reception it received in Penang and Johor Bahru.

Public feedback from East Malaysia indicated the poor response there was due to insufficient notice given through the media, said Dzaiddin.

The commission chief hoped that with earlier announcements through the press, more people would show up at the commission's upcoming public inquiry sessions next week.

Interim report

Dzaiddin also announced that the commission's interim report would be ready by Aug 4 and would cover its recommendations on policies, practices and training related to the police force.

Under its terms of reference (see chart), the commission is expected to submit its final recommendations within 12 months of its establishment, which is Feb 4 next year.

The commission was mooted by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi last December, to find ways of modernising and restoring public confidence in the police force.