police force - paper faces on parade?

Judging from the vehement oppositions to the establishment of the Independent Police Misconduct and Complaint Commission (IPCMC) shown by both the members of the police force and several of the BN MPs, I think it is perfectly justified for us as Malaysians to be cynical towards the outlook of the country in the near future.

I think one could not ask for a clearer or bolder display of misguided superiority that the police force have towards an unyielding commitment to transparency, integrity and accountability - a notion which is quickly being reduced to nothing but a hollow catchphrase in the current Malaysian political landscape.

Notwithstanding the fact that their opposition may constitute a blantant insubordination to the Prime Minister who himself agreed 'in principle' to the establishment of the IPCMC, I think what is even more fundamental is the betrayal of the trust invested by the public in the police force.

It is fair to say that Malaysia is not a police state and it thus follows from it that the Prime Minister's prerogative is greater than that of the Inspector General of Police's (IGP); and hence the intentions to which the latter susbscribe to must not contradict that of the former.

But I think if one were to follow that line of reasoning one step further, we will come to the obvious conclusion that ultimately both the Prime Minister and the IGP are beholden to the Malaysian citizens.

And I believe that this is the point that matters most.

Sure, it is certainly worrying if the PM and IGP are at odds which each other regarding such matters as vital to the country as the state of the police force; but it is even more troubling, catastrophic even if the aspirations of the IGP does not match up with that of the people - especially those whom the police is entrusted to protect in the first place.

By rejecting the establishment of the IPCMC from the outset - whilst being fully cognizant to the less-than-favourable perceptions the public have towards the police force - the IGP clearly needs to do some hard soul-searching and reflect upon his immediate priorities.

Refusing to improve oneself even when one is stuck in a fairly dismal state constitutes doing a grave injustice to oneself. Shutting out any possible avenues for change and betterment when someone else is counting on you is an even graver offence still.

But then again, it is possible that the IGP have no inkling of the public's perception towards the police force or else he knew but choose to ignore it out of his convenience - out of sight, out of mind perhaps?

Either way, it does not present a hopeful picture for the country. Besides, a public official who choose to do something out of convenience is practically putting his country on a short route to disaster.

How could someone so high up in the hierarchy be so blind and ignorant to the desires and wishes of those whom he is supposed to dutifully serve, both above and below him?

But then again, maybe he is busy pursuing other pressing concerns, such as enforcing 'uniformity' - in a visual sense I believe - among the police force, as highlighted in the recent tudung issue.

Time and time again, our country's administrators never cease to amaze me in their innate ability to busy themselves with the most banal and mundane matters.

The reasons given for the enforcement of wearing the tudung among female police officers at official functions and parades are uniformity and 'to reflect the Islamic values present within the police force.'

I find it perplexing for one to don the tudung just for the sake of uniformity; it reeks with superficiality. I do not believe that Islam prescribed woman to cover their aurat just for the mere sake of enforcing uniformity.

I believe that the wisdom behind the practice goes beyond that.

Therefore, I think for the police force to enforce the wearing of the tudung and to justify it solely in the name of uniformity is a great offence and insult to the real wisdom behind the practice of covering the aurat in Islam.

And as for trying to 'reflect the Islamic values present within the police force', it seemed to imply that similarly honorable and admirable values are absent in other religions worshipped by non-Muslim members of the police force.

Are Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism totally devoid of the fine moral values present in abundance in Islam? Is Islam the only religion to preach its followers to be kind, to have high moral integrity and to have utmost respect for others?

One is extremely deluded to think so.

In addition, I think any faithful Muslim would abhor any attempts to associate Islam and its ideals to the police force given their controversial conducts lately - images of the nude-squat case, the shaving of heads and the treatment of detainees readily come to mind.

One can argue that not the whole police force is at fault and that the past scandals are reflective of only a few rotten apples within the force.

Fair enough - one certainly should not make broad sweeps of generalizations in such things.

But for the remaining members of the police force to have let the situation to degenerate into such a shameful state speaks volumes of ineffectiveness of the internal system of check and balance currently in place, if there is one.

The crux of the matter is that it have been clearly outlined that there are serious problems within the police force and recommendations to remedy the problems have been put forward.

To try to dodge the matter any longer would do nothing but to further harm the reputation of the police force and does not help in rebuilding the public's confidence and trust in them.

One can try to run away from the real issue at hand or to shut away the criticisms by conjuring up trivial rules and regulations one after the other but without an honest, sustained and critical initiatives coming from the police force itself, change may be glacially slow in coming.

After all, one can indeed try to cover a rotting carcass in order to hide it; but sometimes, the stench is just too strong.