The Curse of the IGPs

KUALA LUMPUR: On Monday, the PM announced that the IGP contract has been extended although his mandatory retirement is about three months away. Bernama quoted Tan Sri Musa Hassan (below) as saying that he will do the out most to fulfill Pak Lah trust in him.

But if you look back to Musa’s three predecessors, the future doesn’t look good for one of the off-springs of Malaysia’s most respected Quran teacher.

Even before the news of the contract extension, claims of corruption and cronyism against Musa have cropped up in the last few weeks.

Malaysia Defence do not claim that he can vouch for Musa’s integrity and honesty but from the several interaction with the IGP while still serving as a full-time journalist, his honesty and truth fullness was really apparent.

However, it was during this time (during my fulltime employment) I told my colleagues rivals and even police officers that contract extension seemed to be a curse to the country’s top policeman.

I am not superstitious by nature but if you looked back at all of the IGPs after Tun Haniff Omar, you will realised that all of them get scuppered after their contracts were extended.

One cop who seemed to agree with me, said the curse seemed to be cropped up when the IGPs contract was extended, those in the lower ranking position also get stuck (due to arcane Public Service Department laws, one cannot get promoted if there is no opening over you even if the guy is working elsewhere). And when thousands of people curse you, it seemed to have a life of its own.

The first IGP after Tun Haniff was the unruffled Tan Sri Rahim Noor, the man who signed the peace agreement with the Communists. Shortly after his contract was extended (for the same reasons as does Musa), came the Anwar sacking and subsequent black eye incident.

Rahim, whom admitted to hitting Anwar, had to resign in shame.

He was replaced by Tan Sri Norian Mai, whose contract was also extended. Norian tenure as IGP was less controversial than Rahim but it did not meant that it was not full of controversy.

Most of it was internal of course (this was on-going totally separated from the public debate on the power and abuse of power of the police coming out from the Anwar sacking) with the most raucous allegations of corruption and cronyism. So bad was the internal split that when Norian finally retired, he was not given an official farewell send-off.

The man who took over was Tan Sri Mohd Bakri Omar, a taciturn man, who seemed to have a dislike for the Press. Mohd Bakri rise to the top position in PDRM was simply miraculous by any standards.

He had been promoted sideways and everywhere. He had even been sent to Malaysia Airports Bhd. For Mr Clean, his promotion for the top post paved the way for the cleaning up of the PDRM.

It was the right to do of course but it ran into a road block. It was during this time, an over-sight committee was set up to clean up the force. It was the correct mission with a bad sense of timing.

Instead of cleaning up the force, Mohd Bakri had to defend the very men he had wanted to get rid off due to the over sight committee recommendations. In the end apart from promises of better funding, much of the committee recommendations ended up in the dustbin.

And as if it wasn’t bad enough, Mohd Bakri’s contract was extended and the curse of the IGP duly arrived. As Mohd Bakri is clean, the curse instead hit his family. One of his sons was arrested for allegedly profiteering from sale of trading plots in Jalan Masjid India. The plots were given out for less than R50 per plot and the profiteers were selling it as high as RM10,000.

No charges were preferred against the son but Mohd Bakri’s reputation was in tatters. To compoound this, his wife died a few months from a heart attack before he retired from the police (after his contract was not renewed). I was not around when he was given the official farewell ceremony but to me he simply fade away due to the his son’s case and the death of his wife.

And now his replacement, Musa is in the “curse zone” Will he make it through without losing face. I certainly hope not and I sincerely hope what had happened to the three previous IGPs were just coincidence.

The police doesn’t need any more controversies or scandal as does the nation.

Bernama.com
Malaysian National News Agency

‘I Want Criminals To Fear Police Every Second Of Their Lives’ – IGP
General
July 02, 2007 23:28 PM

KUALA LUMPUR, July 2 (Bernama) — “My aim is to clean up Sarawak and Johor of criminal elements. Beginning today, I want criminals to fear the police, every second of their lives.

“I take the trust and confidence of the Prime Minister on my abilities as a personal challenge, and promise to serve the force and the country to the best of my ability.”

These were the strong words of Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan when he spoke to Bernama tonight on the extension of his service on contract.

Musa is scheduled to go on mandatory retirement on Sept 12 but Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said earlier today that Musa’s contract of service had been extended to enable him continue with efforts to combat crime and corruption.

Abdullah did not state the period of the contract.

The IGP’s words were an indication that he would take the bull by its horns when dealing with the underworld, organised crime, illegal activities and corruption.

“I am giving a stern warning to policemen who are involved in taking bribes and misuse their powers.

“I don’t want to see this particular group smearing the good name of the police,” Musa said.

The nation’s police chief also said the extension of service would help him outline new strategies and plans for the betterment of the force.

“I have a dream to see the force above all in the world. Personally, I want my counterparts to instill confidence and respect to Malaysia’s police.

“There are many obstacles waiting for me out there, and believe I can tackle it easily with cooperation from the public,” he added.

— BERNAMA