The police have never been disloyal to the government, Inspector-General of Police Mohd Bakri Omar declared today.

He made this declaration, viewed as an about-turn, when asked about the open challenge by the police against the government's proposal to set up the powerful Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).

"We have never been disloyal and the prime minister (Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) knows about that. We are loyal to the government of the day, we have a track record and we are proud of that. Loyalty is one of our pledges, no question about it," he told a press conference after attending a certificate awarding ceremony at the Police Training Centre in Cheras today.

The police force, in the latest round of open rebellion in strongly opposing the IPCMC had published a special report in its website to 'attack' the IPCMC, including threatening to vote for the opposition in the next general election, should the police watchdog be formed.

Asked whether it was wrong for the police to make the threat, the defensive IGP brushed aside the matter and reiterated that the report was meant for internal circulation as it was based on a closed-door session between the police and the premier.

"It's a heart-to-heart talk with the prime minister, meaning it should have been an internal matter, supposed to be known only among police officers, it's privy information," he explained.

'Officer made a mistake'

Nevertheless, Bakri did not deny any content of the report when asked, but instead shifted the blame to the officer concerned for 'exceeding his instruction.'

"My instruction is to only confine it to officers, they have the right to know. This is a case where the officer has exceeded the instruction I gave - that I want everybody to know the matter has been brought to the attention of the prime minister."

When asked whether there will any action taken against the responsible officer, he answered: "You expect me to punish him? If you become a manager and you start punishing people, people will run away from you, you will not be very popular."

"That is not the way of handling a case like this, a genuine mistake is a genuine mistake. He admitted, he is also a human. You don't make mistake yourself?" the IGP asked the reporters present.

Meanwhile, Bakri confirmed that 12 members - including six Malaysians - from a purportedly terrorist group known as Darul Islam have been arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) since March, but one was released later due to lack of evidence.

No link with al-Qaeda

Besides the six Malaysians, the others are three Indonesians and three Filipinos. One of the Filipinos holds a permanent residency in Malaysia. The 12 aged between 22 and 38, are alleged to be planning attacks in neighbouring countries.

The police chief said it took about one year to track down the group and investigations are still ongoing to see whether other followers of the Darul Islam are still at large in the country.

Mohd Bakri denied the group has any link with the regional terror group, the al-Qaeda.

According to the IGP's statement distributed during the press conference, two pistols, 91 bullets and a number of books and documents related to jihad (holy war) were seized when the arrests were made.

Based on police investigations, Darul Islam is believed to want to turn Indonesia, Malaysia and southern Philippines into an Islamic state via military means. The police also claimed there are two Darul Islam's "cells" in Tawau and Sandakan, Sabah.

The statement said the members of Darul Islam in Sabah is to facilitate the transit for the Indonesian militants to infiltrate into southern Philippines, smuggling arms from southern Philippines to Indonesia and to receive military training there.