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Abdullah should personally attend Parliament on Monday to answer the question on the implementation of the 125 recommendations of the Police Royal Commission and to give assurance that there will be a full parliamentary debate, even if it is necessary to extend  the 14-day parliamentary meeting scheduled to end on July 12 and no cover-up in investigations into the michaelsoosai website


Media Statement (2)
by
Lim Kit Siang

(Ipoh, Friday): The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should personally attend Parliament on Monday to answer my question, which is No. 4 for the question-hour, asking about “the status of implementation of the 125 recommendations of the Report of the Royal Commission to enhance the operation and management of the Royal Malaysian Police”.

Abdullah should at the same time give an assurance that there will be full parliamentary debate, even if it is necessary to extend the 14-day parliamentary meeting starting on Monday and scheduled to end on July 12, to accommodate a three-day debate on the Police Royal Commission Report and its 125 recommendations.

This is important to public confidence in the commitment not only of the Prime Minister, but in the top government and police leadership to implement the Police Royal Commission Report to transform the Malaysian police into a world-class, 21st-century people-centric service which keeps crime low, upholds human rights and is  imbued  with zero tolerance for corruption, for two reasons:

  • Firstly, general disappointment that the first meeting of the Cabinet Task Force on the Police Royal Commission on 8th June 2005 had only focused on the allocation of RM2.5 billion to provide housing for 25,000 police personnel, which is fully supported and long-overdue, but had failed to make  any announcement on the  core proposals of the Police Royal Commission  to create a world-class police force and in particular, the establishment of an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission.
     
  • Secondly, serious allegations on the Internet website, http://www.michaelsoosai.org, naming several senior police officers as having protected top fugitive Michael Soosai, who was reported to have faked his own death, and working hand-in-glove  with members of the underworld to cover up Soosai’s crimes.

I have visited the website and found the allegations against identified senior police officers, if true, as most shocking, as it would mean that  what had been disclosed in  the Police Royal Commission Report about rampant police corruption and abuses of power was just “the tip of the iceberg”.

The website, dedicated to “Michael Soosai – A Soul Resting in Peace”, started with the following  introduction, accompanied by 18 pages of supporting evidence:

No Underworld Dons can grow without the support of the Enforcement Agencies such as the Police Department. It is corrupt Police officials who encourage underworld activities to enrich themselves and when things get out of hand, they wash their hands using their position. Ultimately, the Underworld Dons become more ruthless as they no longer fear the Law Enforcers.”

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Musa Hassan has admitted that the police are aware of the michaelsoosai website and has ordered a probe to investigate the veracity of the allegations.

Malaysians do not want a repeat into the Mohamad Ezam Mohamad Nor case where the focus of police investigations was not into the veracity or otherwise of the allegations on the website, but whether offences under the Official Secrets Act had been committed – punishing the whistle-blower rather than the public officials who are guilty of more serious offences, whether corruption or abuses of their powers and positions for personal gain.

Abdullah should come to Parliament on Monday to give an assurance that police investigations will also go into the truth or otherwise of the allegations, and that the police officers named would be brought to justice if there is any truth in the allegations.

 

(17/06/2005)      

                                                       


*  Lim Kit Siang, Parliamentary Opposition Leader, MP for Ipoh Timur and Strategic Planning Commission Chairman