With the objective to ensure that PDRM is one of the top world-class police force, Parliamentary Caucus on Governance and Institutional Reforms will review the Royal Police Commission Report to study whether its 11 recommendations to improve welfare of the police had been implemented in the past 14 years

With the appointment of Hamid Bador as the new Inspector-General of Police, the PDRM is poised to become a top world-class police force.

With this in mind, the Parliamentary Caucus on Governance and Institutional Reforms chaired by the MP for Port Dickson, Anwar Ibrahim, will review the Royal Police Commission Report to study whether its 13 recommendations to improve the welfare of the police had been implemented in the past 14 years.

Apart from its key recommendation for the establishment of an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) – which the police have now agreed after blocking its formation for the past 14 years with the Home Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announcing that the IPCMC Bill would be presented to Parliament at the end of the year - the Royal Police Commission which was headed by former Chief Justice Tun Mohamad Dzaiddin and former and longest-serving Inspector-General of Police, Tun Hanif Omar, made 11 recommendations to improve the welfare for the police force.

These recommendations were:

1. Redeployment of police personnel nto positions that requires police competencies on-policing, administrative roles.
2. Provide 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.
3. Improvement to current PDRM Training Institution (PULAPOL) and increasing investment in training personnel.
4. Implement career planning for all PDRM personnel to improve motivation and commitment. This includes grooming for top management post and as part of IGP’s succession plan.
5. Address inadequate and ageing vehicle fleet. The commission recommended that PDRM to define its own policies with regard to adjusting and extending the operational lifetime of a vehicle, and for PDRM to dispose their vehicle after 5 years in the market to obtain optimum market price to ensure continuous renewal of fleet.
6. Increase the size of the Mobile Patrol Vehicle fleet to enable greater police presence and patrol.
7. Provide sufficient funding to the weaponry division, replacing old obsolete weapons that are costly to maintain, investing in the PDRM Bomb Squad procuring more bullet proof vest and non-lethal weapons, and constructing new weapon storage facility that are far from living quarters.
8. Identify old and badly maintained police housing and either restore or replace them if not economical. Restoration or replacement should be done according to current housing standards.
9. Identify locations where housing is critically needed and provide housing to PDRM personnel in those areas.
10. Where land is at a premium and building housing is too expensive, the government is recommended to acquire buildings such as apartment to be rented to PDRM personnel. Other alternative housing options are also encouraged to provide the best housing solution to PDRM personnel.
11. Provide adequate funding to maintain police premises including police stations, as some of the premises are very old and not well equipped for purpose.

I will suggest at the next meeting of the Parliamentary Caucus on Governance and Institutional Reforms that the police be asked to present a progress report on these Police Royal Commission recommendations to improve the welfare of the police personnel in the country, as part of the programme to ensure that Malaysians have a top world-class police force to keep Malaysians safe from crime.