The royal commission on the police force was today reminded not to churn out a 'whitewash' report, less than two months ahead of the deadline to submit its findings to the King.

The call was made by a group of non-governmental organisations when launching the book Policing the Malaysian Police in Kuala Lumpur.

The book is a compilation of the submissions by concerned NGOs to the commission since its formation last February.

"This is a reminder to the royal commission that we do not expect a whitewash report merely on how we can 'enhance the operations and management of the Malaysian police'," said the book's editor Dr Kua Kia Soong

The submissions by groups such as Suaram, the Police Watch and Human Rights Committee, Abolish Internal Security Act Movement (AIM), Tenaganita and Jerit contained cases of torture, brutality, corruption, discrimination and abuse of power.

It also highlighted the statistics which revealed that 1.3 deaths occurred each week as a result of police shootings and one death in police custody every two weeks.

The commission - known in full as the Royal Commission to Enhance the Operations and Management of the Royal Malaysian Police - was tasked to investigate the role and responsibilities of the police in enforcing the country's laws, the human resource development for police personnel, the work ethics and procedures for police personnel and human rights issues related to police duties.

The commission was granted a three-month extension last month to submit its report o the King since complaints and suggestions were still pouring in.

'Years of abuse'

Speaking at the launch, Kua, who is also Suaram director, said the book aims to make the police accountable for the "years of abuse of police powers".

He noted a few disappointments of the NGOs towards the commission such as past hearings not being open, the press being excluded, no rigorous cross-examination of witnesses and the commission's decision last year for not making the mid-term report accessible to the public.

He said it is unacceptable for the police to investigate its own personnel in cases of complaints against the police when there must be a truly independent mechanism.

Kua also urged the police not to attribute their incompetence to insufficient manpower but set their priorities right to tackle public security issues first.

"The Malaysian police force is not short on personnel, there are 80,000 personnel to police our 26 million people.

"NGOs who assemble to show concern for social causes are inevitably met by a show of police strength far exceeding the requirement of the situation," he quipped.

Kua also quoted the foreword in the book, written by Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) commissioner KC Vohrah, which urged the government to ratify the United Nations-Convention Against Torture.

Others present were AIM chairperson Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh, Tenaganita programme coordinator Aegile Fernandez, Suaram coordinator S Arutchelvan and Jerit spokesperson V Selvam.

On a lighter note, Arutchelvan said police special branch officers have dropped by at the book launch three times and purchased 13 copies of the book, priced at RM15 per copy.