A coalition of non-governmental organisations have called on the Special Commission to Enhance the Operations and Management of the Royal Malaysian Police to make public its initial report, which is to be presented to the King today.

"We the undersigned call on the commission to be transparent... so that we and other concerned bodies can provide feedback as well as suggestions while it's still a work in progress," said the 42 organisations in a joint statement.

The coalition also expressed their disappointment with the commission's secretary Hamzah Md Rus who stated that the report was categorised as a secret and the decision to release it for public consumption was that of the government's.

Among the signatories of the statement were Amnesty International Malaysia, Justice and Peace Commission Penang Diocese, Malaysian Trades Union Congress, Penang Office for Human Development, Women's Aid Organisation, Perak Consumers Association and the Police Watch and Human Rights Committee.

Duty-bound

The organisations urged the commission, set up on the instructions of the premier, not to be shrouded in secrecy as it is being funded by taxpayers and thus "duty-bound to be accountable to the public".

The 16-member commission, is headed by former chief justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah and is deputised by former inspector-general of police Hanif Omar.

The report according to the commission includes several suggestions on how to improve the police force amidst claims by human rights groups that Malaysian police are unprofessional , trigger happy and high-handed.

"The joint statement has been faxed to the commission and they have acknowledge having received it," said coordinator S Arutchelvan.