WITH news that Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Acryl Sani Abdullah is said to be stepping down on the first week of July, the post of the top cop is most likely to be handed to his deputy Tan Sri Razarudin Husain (main pic, left).
Rumours are rife that current Bukit Aman’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) director Datuk Seri Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay (main pic, right) may be the next deputy IGP.
With all eyes on both the IGP and his deputy, it is expected that people want the police force to be in the top form.
For example, we would like to see the police focusing on important matters rather than engaging the Interpol to go after some stand-up comedians.
In short, chasing after thieves such as the notorious Low Taek Jho or Jho Low rather than comedian Jocelyn Chia. A similar appeal has been made by Hindu mother Indira Gandhi who urged the police to step up efforts to locate her daughter rather than Chia.
While we can understand that any insult to the royalty, for example, may need to be dealt with, arresting four citizens in August 2021 over their alleged insult of an elected public figure such as Kedah Menteri Besar, Datuk Seri Sanusi Md Nor over his most insensitive and bordering towards silly “joke” of using freezer containers to hold corpses of COVID-19 victims is a sheer waste of the police manpower and resources.
The police should take stern actions against its men who arbitrarily set up roadblocks unless they are going after a runaway criminal. The top cops should work hand-in-hand with the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to set up a task force and go undercover to nab the culprits who have given the police force a bad name.
Swift action
To be effective, an officer of integrity must always be on the ground to check on their men and instill strict discipline on the force.
Instead of hiring foreigners or even untrained locals as security guards in housing areas, we believe most people would prefer the police to take over these security posts as their local beats. When there is a crime reported, they would be the first to respond to an emergency.
This is, after all, how Singaporean police managed to control any clashes between rival triad gangs within just minutes. They have also been effective in reducing the country’s crime rate.
A quick survey was conducted by FocusM over Whatsapp with a number of people responding to add to the wishlist.
Retired Brig Jen Datuk Mohd Arshad Raji hopes that the two top cops would “closely monitor the election speeches made by candidates vying for state assembly seats.”
“Arrest those who raised the 3R issues (race, religion and royalty),” said the National Patriots Association (PATRIOT) president.
“Arrest those offering bribes to voters regardless of political parties. There should not be any compromises. Disqualify candidates proven to have given out bribes to voters even though the bribes were given out by their workers.”
Echoing what we had just mentioned, a retired civil servant and businessman, Nik Hisyammuddin Fathi said he would like to see the top cops foster a better relationship with other enforcement agencies, particularly the MACC.
“They must discharge their duties professionally without fear or favour,” he insisted. “At the same time, they must ensure their own integrity as well as that of the rank and file and their senior officers are always upheld.”
Enforced disappearances
Sharing his view is former director of Tung Shin hospital and now a senior church pastor Dr Chew Weng Chee who said he and his church would pray for the safety of the police in “going after the criminals without fear or favour.”
Former Court of Appeal judge Datuk Seri Mohd Hishamudin Yunus said he would like to see great improvements in the performance of the personnel of the police force in terms of their “professionality.”
“There must be a strong will on the part of the PDRM (Royal Malaysian Police) leadership to see to it that corruption in the force be stamped out,” he opined.
Representative from the G25 group of eminent Malays, Datuk Noor Farida Ariffin’s advice to the new IGP is “to act without fear or favour”.
“No one is above the law – not even the Prime Minister (PM) and the politicians. I hope he will charge (Tan Sri) Hadi Awang with the offence of incitement of racial hatred for his hate speeches against the DAP and non-Muslims. It was reported that the PDRM was investigating him over this issue but we haven’t heard anything since the announcement.”
Wife of the abducted Pastor Raymond Koh, Susanna Koh, said she hopes the cases of enforced disappearances will be taken seriously and once and for all settle it with the families.
“It is so disheartening that after four PMs and four governments, we still have not resolved it yet,” she lamented.
Norhayati Mohd Ariffin, wife of another case of enforced disappearance, Amri Che Mat, said that she and others hope that the IGP, deputy IGP or leaders of this country would pay attention to her husband’s case.
“The Task Force Report is already completed,” she revealed. “Therefore, the culprits who were involved in the wrongdoing (abduction of several individuals) have already been clearly identified. Why then is the reluctance to tell the truth of what happened? How long will this be kept a secret?”
Both wives and their family members want a closure to the cases of enforced disappearances so that they can move on with life.
Finally, police officers who are slightly overweight may want to do some work out to keep themselves fit. – June 20, 2023
