A police lance corporal who filed a defamation suit against a teenager following a corruption allegation is acting within his rights and will not be told to drop the suit as advised by the cabinet, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan said today.

"All people whether they are Malaysians or policemen have human rights. If someone thinks that they have been wrongly accused, then it is their right (to file a suit)," he said.

"It wasn't the police who asked him to file the suit. So how can we ask him to withdraw it? He has his lawyer. If we ask him to withdraw it, this will be against his basic rights," he said, adding that the policeman Bahrain Awang had filed the action in his personal capacity.

Musa's stance directly contradicts a cabinet decision on Wednesday that Bahrain should be asked to retract the suit as it went against public interest and would undermine the government's effort to fight corruption.

News reports today quoted Bahrain as saying he would go ahead with the suit despite the Cabinet's advice as Foo's report against him had 'brought suffering and insult to me and my family'.

"I also want to say that filing the civil action is to uphold justice, which is supposed to be decided by the court and not by those outside it," he said.

Asked whether Bahrain's suit was against public interest, Musa said: "That I don't know. People have their rights."

Police committed

Foo Tze Kuan, then 17, had lodged a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) in June last year after several police personnel had allegedly demanded a bribe of RM300 after stopping her for a traffic offence in Seremban.

Bahrin was charged for the offence in March but acquitted on a technicality last month. He filed a defamation suit against Foo in May. The first hearing was scheduled for last week but has been postponed to January.

At another function today, Inspector-General of Police Mohd Bakri Omar reiterated that the police would support the government's effort to eradicate corruption both in government agencies as well as in the police force.

"I will not tolerate it (corruption) whether they are senior officers, low-ranking officers or civil servants," he said in his speech during a graduation parade for assistant superintendents and inspectors at the police training centre in Kuala Lumpur this morning.

He said the recent launch of an internal police anti-corruption drive featuring posters and badges showed the police's determination to fight corruption.

"I am sure if all quarters in the police force including heads of departments, state police chiefs, district police chiefs and station police chiefs, gave their full support, the problem of corruption will be tackled," he said.

Mohd Bakri then later officially opened an exhibition commemorating a century of police investigations involving fingerprints at the Royal Malaysian Police Museum at the Lake Gardens.

He, however, declined to speak to reporters and left immediately after lunch at the venue.