A sinister force at work

Ever since the day then top officer Abdul Rahim Noor beat Anwar Ibrahim in a dark, dank cell in ironically named Bukit Aman in September 1998, the office of Inspector General of Police began to be perceived as part rather than above the fray of Malaysian politics.

The infamous 'black eye' Rahim delivered Anwar was felt to have had repercussions for our understanding of the distinction between serving the state and serving the government of the day.

In a fleeting moment of rage, Rahim did great damage to the idea that the IGP ought always and everywhere to hold himself above the partisan clamour of politics.

It was a pity because of his reputation until then as a man for his force's effective performance of their law enforcement and crime prevention duties.

It's always a sad thing when one fleeting moment of madness is allowed to destroy a career.

No occupant of the IGP's position can be confused about the distinction between service to the state and the government without doing damage to his office that once inflicted is fiendishly hard to undo.

Royal commission ignored

This is why intimations by the current occupant of the office of a “third force” at work, a force that police chief Musa Hassan claims skewers his personnel's right conception and execution of duty tell a lot about the existing state of the country's law enforcement branch of government.

Coming as it does hard on the heels of Musa's publicly aired query over whether the 'underground' or official channels had leaked the 'news' of his supposed 'resignation', the brouhaha reinforces the perception that a sinister, shadowy, force is at work.

It is an Orwellian scenario that's enough to make your neck hairs bristle.

But can anyone be really surprised when five years ago this month critical recommendations of a royal commission on effective management of the force were held in abeyance because senior officers mounted a filibuster?

Talk of a sinister, superior, force at work deviating police officers from proper execution of duty – well, a search for its sources could well begin inside the contingent than without.

The search party may well discover that “they have met the enemy and them is us”.

courtesy of Malaysiakini