The prime minister’s election promises in 2004 to improve governance and accountability have turned out to be empty, says opposition leader Lim Kit Siang.

Lim slammed Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's pledge four years ago to clean up the police, judiciary and corruption as a “host of great breaches of great promises”.

Reminding the prime minister of his promise for an independent police oversight mechanism, Lim decried the Special Complaints Commissions (SCC) bill as an “unacceptable substitute” for the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) bill.

The tabling of the SCC bill - widely criticised as a watered-down version of the IPCMC - came almost two years after the prime minister consented to the formation of an independent police watchdog.

The IPCMC, suggested by Royal Police Commission in 2005, is arguably the most powerful oversight mechanism ever proposed in the country.

Lim has been a staunch opponent to the SCC bill for, among other things, its lack of independence, scope and powers.

At yesterday’s parliamentary roundtable discussions to “rescue” the aborted IPCMC bill, civil society leaders and lawyers agreed to form a coalition to campaign for a truly independent police watchdog.

Controversial judicial appointments

Lim is also holding the prime minister to his promise in November 2003 - when he took over the reigns from Dr Mahathir Mohamad - to uphold democracy and respect the separation of powers.

"The practice of constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy will continue to be supported and we must respect the separation of powers within the legislature, the executive and the judiciary,” the prime minister was quoted as saying then.

Recapping the recent controversies involving the judiciary, Lim expressed doubt as to whether the system can be reformed considering the short one-year tenure of the newly-minted Chief Justice Abdul Hamid Mohamad.

Judicial appointments have been the subject of much recent debate and criticism, sparked by the expose of the ‘Lingam tape’ - a video clip showing lawyer VK Lingam purportedly brokering the appointment of judges with then Chief Judge of Malaya Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, who later became chief justice.

Eyebrows are also raised by the unprecedented appointment of prominent lawyer Zaki Azmi to the second highest judicial post as Court of Appeal president without having delivered a single judgment in court.

Zaki, who is Umno’s legal adviser, had been parachuted straight into the Federal Court three months earlier.

No real corruption cleanup

Another broken promise, according to Lim, is the prime minister’s pledge to combat corruption in the civil service.

“The anti-corruption campaign promised by the prime minister... is a total washout,” said Lim.

Early this year, former ACA Sabah chief Ramli Manan blew the whistle against the then ACA director-general Zulkifli Mat Noor on charges ranging from corruption to sexual assault but his claims were not investigated.

Zulkifli was later cleared of those allegations by attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail.

The AG had also directed the ACA to stop investigations into claims that Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan received RM2 million in exchange for the release three criminal suspects held under the Emergency Ordinance.

Lim asked if the prime minister was still serious about the promises he made when he took office four years ago.