A former chief of the PDRM has gone on record as saying that the new police oversight body must not “victimise” the PDRM. Such fears can be dismissed as the worries of former public servants, used, perhaps, to having their own, uncontradicted, way.

The new PDRM oversight body is not only desirable to protect police officers from victimisation originating either inside or outside of the Force. It is also, perhaps more importantly, a guarantee to all Malaysians that they can expect fair and impartial treatment from the PDRM and also have a means of recourse when they do not get it.

Self regulation rarely works and the PDRM certainly has no claim to be allowed to control itself. No one wants more IGPs running to do the illegal bidding of corrupt politicians or breaking their oaths by warning criminals that the net is closing on them. Malaysians have seen enough of that and want no more.