Anwar: Majority of civil servants view govt positively

AYER KEROH, Dec 7 — The federal government should never be influenced by pockets of civil servants still clinging on to the old system, PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today.

While acknowledging the need to address the anxiety surrounding the conduct of civil servants, Anwar said he did not want any negative perception of them.

“The majority of civil servants, who still maintained their tradition and cultures, have positive views of the government.

“We must, therefore, support and defend these people,” Anwar said in his policy speech to over 3,000 delegates at the Melaka International Trade Centre.

Anwar said the need to defend civil servants aligned to the ruling government included law enforcement personnel, particularly the police following concerns raised by the group over the tabling of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) Bill.

He then urged the government to review the IPCMC Bill for the purpose of upholding the rule of law and to not give an impression of finding fault in the police.

“I want the police to be acknowledged, appreciated, their welfare taken care of and their roles in fighting crime to be maintained.

“It is only that we want to control their professional conduct,” he said, adding that the government would continue to study the proposed bill and retable it in March 2020.

The IPCMC Bill 2019 was tabled for the first reading in the last Dewan Rakyat session in July but the Bill was referred to the Special Select Committee for further discussion when it came up for its second reading last October.

The IPCMC Bill seeks to replace the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission in efforts to enhance the integrity and capabilities of the police force and will act as an independent monitoring body to receive complaints and conduct investigations into misconduct involving police personnel.

However, on December 3, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong said the reading of the Bill needed to be postponed to enable it to be improved.

He said the move to refine the Bill was necessary to facilitate the implementation of the law when it was passed and to avoid any unwanted issues from arising.