The police should discard the role of a loyal, obedient, uncomplaining servant and demand attention to their needs in order to serve effectively, said a parliamentarian.

Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club chairperson Shahrir Abdul Samad said effective policing is being hampered by inadequate resources and outdated practices and training.

"Obviously things have changed, times have changed. The demands and responsibilities placed on the police have also increased but the resources have not kept up with all of that," he said in an interview.

He said the police now face new challenges including terrorism, various forms of piracy, millions of immigrants and bag-snatching, just to name a few.

"The police have to ask themselves if they are well-equipped, trained and able to meet the much higher expectations of the government and the public of today.

"If they are serious in tackling new crimes, they must make their demands heard and not just (feel they are) bound to follow orders."

Although the prime minister, as internal security minister, is in charge of the police force, Shahrir said messages or 'distress calls' from the police may not be getting through to him.

"Maybe the process is not going smoothly. I think the force itself is suppressing such demands and are not prepared to admit that they're not well-equipped.

"I don't think it is police arrogance. I think it's more of misplaced pride, that (the police) have this stiff upper-lip.... that 'we are the police and we never complain'.

"It's time the police stopped acting the part of the loyal, uncomplaining lot which prevents them from making the required demands."

Meeting expectations

The Johor Baru MP, well-known for his candour, said problems faced by the police can never be resolved if not brought to official attention.

In other countries, he said, the police union or the police officers union speak up and demand the best available facilities to ensure high performance.

"The police should get their act together, think this through among themselves and come up with a realisation that if they are expected to do a job, they must be well prepared. They should never think of complaining as a breach of discipline."

Shahrir said there is a difference between duty as a police officer and willingness to share existing problems with the powers-that-be.

"I think that they have their own problems which we should be sympathetic about, and not add pressure by asking why they are not catching criminals when they're not given the means to do so."

He said the government must ensure that the police are given the best possible assistance so that they can perform their role most effectively.

"If there are complaints over a lack of equipment, procedures, training or certain other shortages, then they cannot do the job which the public demands of them."

The country's primary security force has been "badly neglected", he said, citing the report of the Royal Commission to Enhance the Operations and Management of the Royal Malaysia Police as providing proof of the neglect as well as the consequences.

"The department has definitely been neglected, otherwise they wouldn't have to pay for their own office furniture," he said, relating a personal experience to illustrate the point.

"They must tell the ministers and the cabinet about how they have to hire a contractor to paint their balai (station) and solicit donations for a favour, or sit on the floor. Maybe all this while, we have been too preoccupied with economic and material development."

'Seize the moment'

He also said the police force is partly to blame for the mass outrage sparked by reported allegations of misconduct over the last few weeks, including a video-clip exposing a search method that police insist is 'standard operating procedure'.

This showed a woman doing 'ear-squats' in the nude, allegedly on the orders of a female police officer who is seen in the clip.

Lawyers have stated that a strip- or cavity-search is unlawful as it is not prescribed in any law that empowers the police to conduct a body search.

Shahrir urged the police not to be defensive but to speak for themselves especially when a controversy arises.

"Now is the opportunity. Seize it. Use this to voice long-standing problems to the government and demand for what you need to do your job effectively.

"This is a two-way thing. It should not be seen as one-way where the police are attacked all the time. The police should open up, pull themselves together and examine themselves."

He called on the government and the cabinet to "hunker down" and look at the whole problem constructively, and offer the police reassurances of the best possible assistance.

"At the end of the day, the public wants an efficient and modern police force which comes with not just transparency but also a willingness to admit their weaknesses, especially where it's not of their own doing."

'Virtual' defence

An e-mail in Bahasa Malaysia currently making the rounds in chat-groups also defends police officers, saying that'ear-squats' are ordered to detect prohibited items in the lock-up.

Loosely translated, the relevant excerpts read: "No one gives any thought to the duty officer who bears full responsibility if drugs or weapons are found in the cells.

"It's not the OCPD (district police chief).. nor the ministers who keep talking in Parliament. It's the poor L/Corporal who gets punished in the end."

The author, purportedly a police officer, lashed out at ministers who "didn't quite understand what they were saying".

"They talk about human rights but when a policeman files a suit against a student... they tell him he has no right to do so. Does that mean human rights is only for civilians?"

The e-mail also drew comparisons between someone arrested in Chow Kit and a traffic offender, a prostitute and a kindergarten teacher, a syariah offender and a war crime suspect.

"If a prostitute or a drug addict is arrested in an immoral place, they tend to conceal or swallow the drugs during inspection.

"No police chief will, in writing, prohibit his officers from conducting a 100 percent search. It would be wonderful if that were the case... makes our job much easier."

Maintaining that ear-squats are routine procedure under certain circumstances, the e-mail said: "(This way) any concealed pill will be dislodged after only two or three times. This practice is employed by police the world over. It is not a form of torture."

Commenting on the video-clip, the author claimed that the Quranic recital in the footage was superimposed as there is no radio in the vicinity or within hearing distance of the lock-up in the Petaling Jaya police station.