If you have a complaint against the police, don’t bother going to the proposed Special Complaints Commission (SCC). It will be a waste of time, says a rights group.

A human rights group has described the new body to replace the suggested Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) - the crucial recommendation made by the royal commission on the police force two years ago - as “redundant”.

“Firstly, this is because the commission is governed by the IGP (inspector-general of police), and this creates a conflict of interests. Secondly, the investigation procedure leads back to the police, which creates another conflict of interests,” said Amnesty International Malaysia’s campaign coordinator, K Shan.

“Therefore, we are of the opinion that any complaint made by the public on the police force will probably not attain proper justice in an impartial manner free from any element of collusion.

Amnesty has demanded that the government to send the original IPCMC bill to Parliament - which was drawn up by Royal Commission to Enhance the Operation and Management of the Royal Malaysia Police in 2005 - instead of the ‘watered-down’ CPC version tabled on Thursday .

Shan said that the new bill defeats the true intention of the royal commission, which was set up by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi soon after he took helm in 2003.

Abdullah has since backtracked from his promise to push ahead with the IPCMC idea as suggested by the royal commission after strong opposition from the police force.

“The tabled bill failed to address the fundamental need for a complaint mechanism to make the police be accountable to the public for their action or omission to act on public complaints. The SCC also lacks independence and powers to check and balance,” said Shan.

He is particularly alarmed that new commission will have the police chief as part of the body.

The SCC will consist of seven members, comprising a chairman appointed by the prime minister, the inspector-general of police, the director-general of the Public Complaints Bureau, the director-general of the Anti-Corruption Agency and three other members appointed by the prime minister.

“We are also concerned that the SCC has in fact no powers to conduct independent investigations into the police force – in effect, submissions will be redirected to the police to investigate complaints made against themselves.

Royal panel’s most important recommendation

The royal commission, which made some 125 recommendations after a one-year investigation, has emphasised that internal mechanisms currently governed by the police themselves are inadequate, unreliable and frequently ineffective.

It suggested the IPCMC - the commission’s most important recommendation - to address this ineffectiveness and to introduce a more reliable mechanism to address complaints made against the police.

The royal commission saw this as a crucial way to improve much-needed public confidence in the policing system and to make the police force accountable to the public at large.

After dragging its feet for over two years, the government has asked the attorney-general (AG) to make changes to the royal commission’s proposed bill.

When it was tabled in Parliament two days ago, human rights groups are aghast by how far the new body has veered from the original proposal.

Shan said that he was disappointed with the AG’s Chambers for unilaterally defeating the intention and recommendation made by the royal commission.

“We fear that the SCC is merely an internal oversight mechanism and we strongly urge the government to table and implement the IPCMC bill to comprehensively supersede the current SCC Bill immediately.”