Call for upward revision of housing allowances for police personnel in Johor Bahru and other major cities to offset higher cost of living

During the visit of my team to the Johor Baru Utara Police and the briefing by the Johore Baru OCPD Assistant Commissioner Mohd Taib Ahmad and the other police chiefs in JB Utara district, I was shocked to learn of the terrible condition of police housing in the area.

I am reminded of one of the 11 recommendations of the Police Royal commission 14 years ago which recommended the formation of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) which was headed by former Chief Justice Tun Mohamad Dzaiddin and former and longest-serving Inspector-General of Police, Tun Hanif Omar to improve the welfare for the police force.

One of these recommendations proposed the provision of “special allowance for PDRM personnel stationed in major cities, such as the Klang Valley, Johor Bahru, and Georgetown to offset the higher cost of living faced by them”.

In Johore Bahru, the market rate of housing is about three times higher than the police housing allowance. There is not only a serious lack of adequate police housing in the Johore Baru area, existing police quarters are in very dilapidated condition in urgent need of repair running into tens of millions of ringgit.

As an immediate measure I would call for a three-prong action, viz:

• Upward revision of housing allowances for police personnel in Johor Bahru and other major cities to offset higher cost of living as recommended by the Police Royal Commission 14 years ago;
• Repair of the dilapidated conditions of the police quarters in Johore Baru; and
• Construction of adequate police quarters not only in Johor Baru but throughout the country.

A safe community, free from crime and the fear of crime, must be one of the basic rights of all Malaysians.

In a New Malaysia, we want Malaysia to be a world top-class nation – which includes having a world top-class police force.

This is an objective which all Malaysians will support and give full-hearted endorsement.