KUALA LUMPUR: Eliminating elements of corruption in the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) is a priority and the first step to be given attention in strengthening the police force, said Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Abdul Hamid Bador.
He said the thing that he would do after being appointed to helm the police force would be to create awareness among the police officers and other ranks that corruption was a major sin.
“This is because, the PDRM is given the responsibility… the power given to the PDRM is holy, if any member of the PDRM is involved in corrupt practices, it would be a major sin.
“As such, I want to explain to members of the police force at all levels that there must be awareness that whatever is gained in a wrongful manner cannot be given to any member of the family,” he said in an exclusive interview with Bernama at the Police Headquarters in Bukit Aman, here.
Abdul Hamid said he was determined to create awareness among members of the PDRM that corruption was a most distasteful act.
“When there is an understanding and awareness on this, then they would make a new move to stop all action that would harm members of the public. In addition, corruption occurred across the board in all 10 departments of the police force including the Special Branch.
“Thus, this should be prevented and subsequently I would act to close as many loopholes (prevent members of the PDRM from corrupt practices) which all this time were uncertain whether they were permissible or otherwise,” he said.
Abdul Hamid explained that he had recently issued a directive to all contingents, Officers-in-Charge of Police Districts (OCPDs) and Officers-In-Charge of Police Stations (OCS) to stop all acts of obtaining sponsorship from outside purely to hold Open Houses in conjunction with Aidilfitri.
“In fact, there are people who said that this was a traditional event, I agree, we hold Open Houses every year where we invited all the government officers and foreign embassy officials to interact with PDRM.
“However, there is no allocation given by the government to the PDRM to organise such activities. So, we had to use internal funds such as the welfare, social and sports fund which is depleting to organise major events which are costly,” he said.
Abdul Hamid said all this while open houses received sponsorship from corporate bodies such as in Bukit Aman but at the lower levels there were junior police officers who sought sponsorship from outside to organise such events.
“Such action was carried out without any guideline,” he said.
Abdul Hamid said in addition, such open houses would also be a waste of time for those involved who would be using office time to meet for planning the event.
“So, as far as possible I would close any space for junior officers to be used as slaves to collect funds and instead place their focus on improving service quality,” he said.
He said there were also OCPDs and OCS who were ‘environment’ friendly and popular in their respective districts for giving the best service to the public.
“In this matter, I believe this is enough because there is positive feedback from the public who praised our service.
“Maybe the residents organise open houses in their respective housing schemes and invite the OCPD and OCS to promote good relations between the force and the public, adding that the police force would not hold any Aidilfitri Open House whether at the Bukit Aman, contingent or district levels. – Bernama
