| The much-criticised Special Complaints Commission (SCC) Bill scheduled to be tabled for second reading today has been postponed to the next parliamentary sitting in March next year.
M inister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Abdul Aziz said it has been put off to give the MPs more time to study the bill and for civil society groups to provide feedback.
"We reached the consensus after all cabinet members unanimously agreed to defer the bill," he told reporters, adding that the deferment shows that the government is listening and does not want the bill to be a rushed job.
However, Nazri said the bill will not be withdrawn but amendments can be made during the committee stage debate.
He also said the appointment of the inspector-general of police as a member of the commission will not be a problem in the implementation of the bill.
"This is not IPCMC (Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission) so there's no conflict of interests in the appointment of the IGP. This is SCC," he said.
Explaining that the government will never allow the investigating body to prosecute, Nazri said: "The SCC will only receive complaints and investigate. It will not hear cases and prosecute because we have a court system. In this country, only the attorney-general prosecutes."
SCC, which was tabled for first reading in the parliament last week, drew flak from opposition politicians and civil society groups, who described it as a watered-down version of the IPCMC.
‘Fundamentally flawed’
Earlier, Nazri received a memorandum from several members of civil society groups demanding the government to immediately withdraw the SCC Bill.
They also demanded that the original IPCMC proposed by the Royal Commission on the Police Force to be tabled in Parliament to replace the SCC bill.
R eading out the memorandum, which was endorsed by some 43 NGOs, Amnesty International Malaysia executive director Shanon Shah Mohd Sidik (right) said SCC defeats the true intention of the Royal Commission on the Police Force to improve the professionalism of the force and to ensure that human rights, rule of law and public accountability are observed and implemented by the police.
"We are outraged that there was no consultation with the public on the bill and that the current bill (SCC Bill) was bulldozed through Parliament in such a short span of time," he said.
S hanon said the proposed SCC bill is "fundamentally flawed" and will never convince the public of its independence and effectiveness.
"The SCC places the IGP in the oversight governance structure and this creates a conflict of interests. How is the SCC going to make the police accountable with one of its members being the IGP when the IGP himself is to be answerable to all complaints against the police, including those incurred by his own orders to his subordinates and his own actions?"
He concluded that the SCC will be another ineffective and redundant institution at the expense of taxpayers' money and that it is nothing more than an attempt to thwart the formation of the IPCMC. Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang welcomed the deferment and said there should be a proper consultation process for the bill. Yesterday, Tunku Abdul Aziz Ibrahim, one of the panel member of the police royal commission, slammed the SCC as an "insult" and "mockery" to the people. |
