Chairman of Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission, Datuk Yaacob Md Sam speaks at the Bar Council's roundtable on promoting greater police accountability in Kuala Lumpur May 4, 2016. — Picture by Mohd Yusof Mat Isa

KUALA LUMPUR, May 4 ― Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) chairman Datuk Yaacob Md Sam said today the public should pressure for more funds to the agency instead of pushing for an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).

Speaking during a roundtable on police accountability, Yaacob said that the EAIC will try to “meet all expectations” when it comes to keeping the police in check if it is empowered further.

“Empower us, support us. This could mean more manpower, more funds,” he said.

“I'm not saying IPCMC is not good, but a more practical idea is to strengthen EAIC,” he added.

Yaacob said that the government had formed the EAIC as an alternative when the IPCMC idea was mooted.

“So we already have a very good framework and a very good structure. So we should be working to improve this,” he said.

The EAIC has been criticised before for not doing enough to monitor police abuses, but it maintained that it did not have the authority to pursue action against those it investigates.

The IPCMC was mooted by the 2005 royal commission of inquiry chaired by former Chief Justice Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah, but was rejected by the Royal Malaysia Police from the offset.

It was to be modelled on the United Kingdom’s Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), as well as other police oversight bodies in New South Wales and Queensland in Australia, and Hong Kong.

Resource : The Malay Mail Online