A referendum will show that overwhelming majority will vote for a new IGP

When Tan Sri Musa Hassan’s extension of service for another year as Inspector-General of Police was announced on Sept. 3 last year, former Selangor Police Chief Datuk Yahaya Udin was quoted by the media as saying that the one-year extension should be sufficient for Musa to complete his “unfinished work”.

Now, it would appear that Musa has still got “unfinished work” and he is angling for another extension of service.

Let me reiterate what I had said last August, when opposing any extension of service for Musa as the No. 1 Policeman in the country.

I had said that I have no doubt that if the issue of whether the country needs a new IGP is put to a referendum in the country or the police force, the result will be an overwhelming “yes” for a new IGP.

Let me reiterate that I have no personal axe to grind against Musa and am purely taking a stand in the national interests, to roll back the tide of crime in the past six years as well as to inject the Malaysian police force with the adrenaline, dynamism and a reinvigorated sense of purpose that only a new police chief could evoke in another attempt to scale the goal to become an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police force respected internationally for its competence, ability and success to fulfil the three core police functions to keep crime low, eradicate corruption and protect human rights.

Malaysians as well as the 100,000-strong police force just cannot believe that the present batch of police leadership are so short of leadership material that the Prime Minister cannot find a single one from the topmost 100 Police officers of Deputy IGP, CPs, DCPs, SACs I and II to qualify to be the new IGP.

Is the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak prepared to put the issue to a referendum among the top 2,000 police officers from ASP upwards to enable a secret poll to get their true and authentic voice and vote of whether the overwhelming majority of the top police officers are in favour of a new IGP?

Lim Kit Siang

DAP Parliamentary Leader & MP for Ipoh Timor