Senior lawyer S Ambiga took the political leadership to task for having no guts to implement the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) to get rid of bad cops.

"We have to have political will to do it, whether the police object or not. My problem is with the political leadership - that we do not have the guts to do it," said the National Human Rights Society (Hakam) president without naming former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his successor, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Ambiga was speaking at a public forum on IPCMC, which is part of a roadshow organised by Bar Council in conjunction to the 10-year anniversary of the release of the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) report on the police force.

The RCI was set up in 2005 following a number of controversies involving the police force, including the high number of deaths in custody.

Following an extensive investigation, the RCI proposed the establishment of IPCMC, an independent oversight body, among 124 other recommendations.

Abdullah, who helmed the country from 2003 to 2009, however abandoned the IPCMC proposal following stringent protest from the police force.

In 2006, the police force stated the reasons for its stand against the external oversight body – among others, there is no pressing need to set up one, it is against the rule of law and the Federal Constitution, and it compromises the power of the police chief.

Instead, the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC), which was criticised as a watered-down version of IPCMC, was set up two years after Najib took power.

Inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar has since repeatedly shot down the idea of IPCMC.

At the forum, Ambiga dismissed the police force’s reasons for rejecting IPCMC as groundless, in particular the claim that the enforcement body was singled out for scrutiny.

"No agency should object to scrutiny, they should want to be the best police force and be an accountable agency. If we have a leadership who believe in that principle, then there would be no problem," she said last night.

"The police has the most power to deal with ordinary men on the street, we see them day in day out. Its objection to IPCMC is not justified," she thundered.

‘EIAC has no bite’

Also speaking at the forum were Bar Council chairman Steven Thiru, Society for the Promotion of Human Right (Proham) secretary-general J Denison and PSM secretary-general S Arutchelvan.

Thiru reiterated Bar Council's call to set up IPCMC, especially given the recent spate of arrests of government dissidents.

He also raised concerns that a slew of controversial laws - Prevention of Crime Act 2013 (Poca), Prevention of Terrorism Act and Security Offences (Special Measures) Act and Section 124 of Penal Code - could be opened to possible abuse by the police.

According to him, the way police acted against other enforcement agencies which probed 1MDB as well as detractors of the troubled government sovereign fund has a chilling effect on those vocal against the scandal.

He urged the cops not to view IPCMC as a weapon to be used to attack them, but a platform for them to justify their actions.

"It is only by the police force submitting itself to IPCMC can the police force develop itself into an institution that lives up its motto of firm, fair and prudence," he said.

Thiru said it was very hard for EAIC to perform its duty with limited resources, especially when 80 EAIC staff have to look after at least 3.1 million officers from 19 enforcement agencies.

"EAIC has no bite, it cannot compel the cops to accept the its report (on misconducts of cops)," he lamented.