Hamid Bador is doing what none of his 11 predecessors as Inspector-General of Police had dared to do in six decades: for the Malaysian Police be among the cleanest and most incorruptible government departments in the country and among the cleanest and most incorruptible police forces in the world

Datuk Seri Abdul Hamid Bador is doing what none of his 11 predecessors as Inspector-General of Police had dared to do in six decades – for the Malaysian Police to be among the cleanest and most incorruptible government departments in the country and among the cleanest and most incorruptible police forces in the world.

His warning to the “men in blue” to sever ties with criminals before it is too late for them to repent is welcomed by all Malaysians who want to see the Malaysian police force to be among the world’s top police forces, which is efficient, professional, people-friendly and corruption-free - symbol of a New Malaysia.

Hamid Badar said that as long as the policemen had not been nabbed, “haven’t worn the orange jumpsuit yet”, there was time for them to disentangle themselves from the underworld.

He reminded all police personnel to remember the oath they had taken, swearing that they will uphold the law instead of getting involved in vices.

At the Op Selamat event in conjunction with the Hari Raya Adilfiltri celebration in Kuala Lumpur, Hamid expressed confidence that corruption could be eradicated soon, adding that he had faith in his men.

He said: “If there are 500 dirty cops, there are 125,000 more good cops, I believe my men are good.

“Basically, they are good men so we have to set a good example from the top. I will set a good example from the top.”

The developments in the Malaysian police force in the past three weeks since the appointment of Hamid Bador as Inspector-General of Police has vindicated my expectation that the second year of the Pakatan Harapan government in Putrajaya will see more reforms and changes in the democratic governance of Malaysia, as the best part of the first year of the Pakatan Harapan Federal Government after the historic decision of the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018 had been spent on finding out the scope and extent of the political, economic, educational, social, cultural and moral damages to Malaysia in heading towards the trajectory of a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state.

In the first year of the Pakatan Harapan Government, several important developments had taken place to pave the way for far-reaching institutional, political and democratic reforms n the subsequent years, such as the appointment of Hamid Bador as the new Inspector-General of Police and the following appointments:

• Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat as Chief Justice, taking over from Richard Malanjum who had retired on April 2;
• Datuk Mohamad Ariff bin Md Yusof as Speaker of Parliament;
• Tommy Thomas as Attorney-General;
• Azhar Azizan Harun or better known as Art Harun as Chairman and Dr. Azmi Sharon as Deputy Chairman of Election Commission’;
• Tan Sri Abdul Kassim Ahmad as Director-General of National Centre for Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption;
• Datuk Seri Mohd Shukri Abdull as Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Chief Commissioner;
• Datuk Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus as Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) Governor.

Since his appointment as IGP, significant developments to restore public confidence in the professionalism, efficiency and trustworthiness of the Malaysian police force to reduce crime and the fear of crime include the following:

• Police support for the establishment of an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) ending 15 years of police opposition, with the IPCMC Bill to be presented o Parliament at the end of the year;
• Foiling of a terrorist plot by an Islamic State (IS) “wolf-pack” cell to attack non-Muslim houses of worship and entertainment centres around Kuala Lumpur during the first week of Ramadan;
• New leads on fugitive financier and 1MDB scandal mastermind Jho Low’s whereabouts;
• Police raid of the office of Deloitte Malaysia to help in police investigations into the 1MDB case;
• Cabinet’s establishment of a special committee or task force to reinvestigate the alleged enforced disappearance of pastor Raymond Koh and activist Amri Che Mat;
• The IGP’s personal commitment on a war against corruption in the police force.

There are still outstanding problems that have to be dealt, which include:

• Deaths in police custody;
• The death of Teoh Beng Hock;
• Location of Prasana Diksa, who was abducted by her father Muhammad Riduan Abdullah a decade ago as an 11-month-old child to return her to her mother in the long-running tragedy of M. Indira Gandhi.

The Parliamentary Caucus on Governance and Institutional Reforms chaired by the MP for Port Dickson, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, will meet in Parliament next Tuesday, and on the agenda will be the review of the progress of the 125 recommendations of the Police Royal Commission chaired by former Chief Justice, Tun Mohamad Dzaiddin with the former Inspector-General of Police Tun Hanif Omar as Deputy Chairman, which include recommendations to improve the welfare of the police such as special allowances for PDRM personnel stationed in major cities in Klang Valley and in Johor Bahru to offset the higher costs of living faced by them; police motivation and commitment; police housing and adequate funding to main police premises.