IPCMC Bill Postponed for Second Time to Next Parliament Session

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The long-awaited debate on the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission 2019 (IPCMC) Bill has been postponed to the next session in March next year.

This is the second time the bill has been postponed at the Dewan Rakyat.

This was announced by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Liew Vui Keong, who was initially scheduled to table the bill for the second and third readings.

The announcement was met with shouts of “kita menang” from the opposition, with some MPs asking for the bill to be postponed.

In October, the bill was referred to Parliament’s Special Select Committee to be discussed in detail before being taken to the Dewan Rakyat.

The IPCMC bill was first tabled on July 18 to replace the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission in a move to improve the transparency and accountability of the police force.

De facto law minister Liew Vui Keong said the decision to postpone the second reading of the IPCMC bill was made following discussions with the Cabinet and the parliamentary special select committee chaired by Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh.

He said further discussions were needed with the relevant stakeholders, especially the police, assuring, however, that the delay would only be for three months.

The announcement was hailed by opposition leader Ismail Sabri Yaakob who voiced hope for a complete withdrawal of the bill.

He also said that representatives from the opposition on the parliamentary select committee had gone on record as being against the bill.

“You can look at the records of the parliamentary select committee report,” he said in a press conference at the Parliament lobby.

The two opposition members on the committee were Santubong MP Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar and Pengerang MP Azalina Othman Said.

However, Liew maintained that their criticism had been taken into consideration in the new draft bill.

Meanwhile, Ramkarpal said he believed the government needed more time to go through the report with the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

He said the report itself was complete and had been tabled in Parliament last week.

He also denied that he was supposed to table the bill or wind up the debates, saying he was only meant to table the parliamentary select committee’s report on the IPCMC. – FMT