Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Paul Low says the police force must learn to balance respect with modern-day law enforcement. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Nazir Sufari, April 8, 2015.Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Paul Low shares his vision for a better Malaysia as he marks two years in office this May with an exclusive interview with The Malaysian Insider.
In this second instalment of a three-part article, Low addresses the “critical” state of antagonism between the Malaysian public and the police, and long-standing allegations of corruption within the force.
Strengthening and cleaning up the image of the police force has remained one of the top priorities for Low since taking office as minister responsible for promoting governance and integrity.
He also oversees transparency and human rights, but increasing antagonism between the police and the Malaysian public threatens to stand in the way of that mission.
“The image of the police affects the image of the government,” said the former chief of Transparency International’s Malaysian chapter.
“If you don’t have the trust (of the people), it is very difficult.
“And today, the level of trust is very low.”
Low said the brewing animosity between our men in blue and the very people they have sworn to protect has risen to such critical levels of late because of the police force’s inability to balance respect with modern-day law enforcement.
“In the case of the police, they lack the capacity to enforce law in a way that’s suitable in today’s society.
“It’s all right for you to use rough tactics on criminals, but you can’t use the same on people who are caught in the Sedition Act and on the civil society. These are different (cases),” Low said during an interview in Putrajaya recently.
“The issue of respect, of human rights, and respect of the individual, is something the police needs to learn.”
On March 16, Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar was arrested and detained overnight for an offence under the Sedition Act.
Her detention was quickly followed by that of other fellow opposition politicians, political and social activists and most recently, of five newsmen from The Malaysian Insider and The Edge Media Group.
The arrests, which drew condemnation from local and international rights groups, revealed a lack of good judgment and inability to adopt modern-day policing methods, said Low.
“These people you are detaining and catching are not criminals. I don’t think they’re going to run away,” he said.
“You have to deal with different people in different ways. I don’t see that fine distinction being appreciated by the police, and I hope they will change.”
Low said growing antagonism between the police and the public made it increasingly difficult for effective policing, and also hampered efforts to bring about a change to the police culture.
“This works against everything we are doing,” he said.
“Enforcement is important, yes you must be tough, but you must also be respectful.
“That balance, I don’t see it happening.”
Apart from public anger over the nature of the recent arrests, Low said the long-standing issue of corruption continued to dog the police force.
“Police integrity is important. If they are corrupt, then there is a breakdown of enforcement and there will be lawlessness.”
From organised crime infiltrating the force, to the problem of harassment towards migrant workers and even death in custody, Low said there was much to be done to “change the whole police culture”.
“You must understand how the police work. When they are in the field, they are sworn to protect each other, and they put their lives in their partner’s hands.
“So with this in mind, how does one officer react when he sees his partner taking a bribe, or doing something wrong? How do you break that ‘brotherhood’ that is so much a part of their culture?
“The mission is world-class police. But how do we get there?”
One way, said Low, was to chip away at that culture by instituting a high-level unit within the force itself that dealt specifically with issues of police integrity and corruption.
The newly established Department of Integrity and Compliance Standard (JIPS), the equivalent of an internal affairs unit, is headed by a top police officer and is empowered with taking disciplinary action against renegade officers.
It was a small, but he said a significant, step towards sending out the message that corruption would not be tolerated.
“In the meantime, yes there’s (still) organised crime, there’s leakage of information, there’s corruption. But you still have to run the police force,” he said.
Low said there was strong political will both within the police force and in the government to weed out corrupt practices, but admitted that the change seemed painstakingly slow.
Still, he said lasting and holistic change must take time to take root, adding that the challenge now was to change the mindset of the police so they believed in the need to build up integrity within the force.
“Out of the police, there are maybe only a few who are the renegades and ‘bad guys’.
“There must be a way of dealing with, and getting rid of, them. And to do that, we have to get the other 90% something on board.” – April 8, 2015.
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