We will revise IPCC Act when the time comes, Saifuddin says

PARLIAMENT | Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the Independent Police Conduct Commission (IPCC) Act 2020 will be revised for further empowerment when the time comes.

“We (Home Ministry) take the approach that if in future there is a need for us to review the act, we will examine it at that time,” he told the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was responding to a question from former deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (law and institutional reforms) Ramkarpal Singh (Harapan-Bukit Gelugor) about the need to give the IPCC Act more power in handling complaints about police officers.

Saifuddin revealed that the IPCC is handling seven cases, which are all under investigation.

The cases deal with reports from police officers about their higher-ups, complaints about lack of action on previous grievances, and complaints about the integrity of those at the inspector rank, he added.

This is out of 348 complaints that the IPCC has received since July last year when the IPCC was enforced, he added.

The remaining 341 cases had fallen under the jurisdiction of other agencies, such as the MACC, he explained.

He further said that provisions in the IPCC Act allow for complaints about the police to be referred to other authorities for investigation and enforcement.

Believe in the law

Saifuddin also called for critics to believe in the act.

“The principle we have is that laws are dynamic by nature, not static, and the IPCC Act has only been in force for a year.

“I think a more reasonable approach is to give the space and belief in the IPCC Act to perform,” he said.

In January, a group of 57 civil society organisations called on the government to strengthen the act through transparency and accountability to end police violence.

It said “inherent structural deficiencies” within the IPCC will render it “toothless” regardless of its members’ experience and competence.

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