Section 12 of the Amnesty International report has a series of recommendations for the reform of the Police in Malaysia, starting right at the top with calls for the reform and/or repeal of restrictive laws that help maintain the oppressive regime perpetrated by the police.

Let’s suppose, for a while, that the general reasons for the continued oppression by the police is a function of a lack of transparency and the overt threat of force against citizens.

This overt threat of force is maintained by, among others, the ISA and the various emergency laws still in effect in Malaysia. There is also no oversight, and/or no avenues provided for legal representatives and/or NGOs, for repressive practices such as torture or ill-treatment.

The lack of transparency or oversight is due to the weakness of the judiciary in upholding the rights of citizens both guaranteed by the Constitution and international laws to which Malaysia is a signatory. This includes the transparency of rules such as the Lock-up rules and various standard police procedures sanctioned under the Criminal Procedures Code (CPC).

Both of the above aspects mentioned contribute and maintain a culture of indifference in the Police. Other aspects that contribute to this indifference or lack of professionalism are: poor training; poor compensation; lack of accountability from within the Police force; and a Police force that is not representative of the community.

As the above-mentioned report remarks: only 2.5% of the Police force comprise of Malaysian Chinese, and 1.25% of the same are comprised of Malaysian Indians. Some comments are necessary. It’s easy to draw a typically racist conclusion to this, but consider it objectively: if a particular community doesn’t participate in the very force set up to police them, they have effectively isolated themselves. By default, the police will be characterized as “the enemy”. This isn’t fair even to an effective police force.

The problems, I realized after reading the report, isn’t one of having improper procedures or having improper laws in effect; it’s everything to do with political will and the desire to maintain control. We’ve missed the bigger picture here: one abuse scandal isn’t going to change much - this instance is an extraordinary event seeing how it has come to affect the country’s tourism industry and relations with China.

It is still, essentially, the same: there are worse offenses, relapses and abuses reported over the years, as late as 2003. I’ve blogged about this here, but failed to focus on the conclusion I had drawn there, viz. the laws and practices apparently sanctioned by the government either by the explicit upholding of certain laws, or indirectly by weakening the judiciary and giving not enough attention to so-called procedures.

Is the government going to change anytime soon? To be realistic, I don’t believe so, despite the fact I’ve been saying that we should vote with our conscience. So what we might have is a government that’s been in place for more than 3 decades, and which will continue for another 1 or 2 more decades. It is my belief that the Police aren’t going to change at all in the intervening years unless the government actively moves to repeal laws and relax their hold on the judiciary, real or perceived.

Will the government do that? I believe not: the ISA and other repressive laws are the means by which the government controls the masses through the use of fear. It’s a powerful tool, and one that they won’t give up unless forced to. And really, I see no way in which the government will be forced to obey the wishes of the people. We could conceivably improve other aspects of the Police force, like instituting better training and better salary structures, but neither of these will have an effect if the Police to take their orders from the Executive branch without oversight from independent bodies.