Setting up the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) is the only way to deal with police abuse of power cases, Bar Council vice-president Ambiga Sreenevasan said today.

Speaking at a press conference at the Parliament's lobby, she highlighted the recent case of lawyer, S Bala, who was detained by police while attempting to attend to his client at the Petaling Jaya police district headquarters.

"The public can say that if even a lawyer is subjected to this (abuse of power), what more the ordinary citizen?"

"As far as the Bar Council and members of the Malaysian Bar are concerned, the IPCMC is the answer to this problem as investigations ill be carried out quickly and they will be done in a transparent manner," Ambiga said.

Saying that interference by the police is a "serious matter", she also expressed disappointment that the Bar Council had failed to secure a meeting with the Inspector General of Police Mohd Bakri Omar over the incident involving Bala.

She said this despite the council writing three times to the police chief requesting a meeting.

"There has been no report on the (police) investigation that is being carried out. I personally don't see any difficulty in investigating the complaint that has been put forward," said Ambiga.

'Not an urgent matter'

Among the 15 lawyers present at the press conference were Bala, Kuala Lumpur Bar chief Lim Chee Wee, Selangor Bar chief George Varughese, lawyer-politician Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor) and M Kula Segaran (Ipoh Barat).

Kula Segaran had earlier moved an emergency motion in the Dewan Rakyat to debate Bala's arrest and also previous cases where lawyers were ill-treated by police. The motion, however, was rejected by Speaker Ramli Ngah Talib on the grounds that it was not urgent.

The Speaker further claimed that the police have initiated an investigation into the matter.

Two other lawyers, Raja Singam and P Uthayakumar, were also present today and related their experiences which they claimed were at the hands of the police. The former was detained for 18 hours and assaulted in March for allegedly refusing to cooperate with the police.

Uthayakumar, meanwhile, suffered injuries in an infamous incident in 2003 when he was threatened and assaulted at gunpoint. The lawyer is well-known as a vocal critic of police abuses.

Stressing the need for IPCMC, he said: "After three years, no action has been taken."