In a written parliamentary response to Pulai MP Salahuddin Ayub, he noted that the bill had first been tabled on Aug 26, 2020, with a second reading scheduled for the following day but that it was subsequently postponed.

The IPCC Bill was introduced in 2020 to replace the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) Bill that had been tabled in Parliament by the Pakatan Harapan government in 2019.

The decision to replace the bill was made by the incoming Cabinet after the change in government in March 2020, with many calling the new bill a watered down version of the IPCMC.

Last night, former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief commissioner Abu Kassim Mohamed said “sad excuses” by politicians had hindered the original bill’s implementation, which he said would have led to a clean police force.

“I’ll be blunt about the fears politicians had over the IPCMC. And the excuses they offered are woeful,” he said at a webinar organised by Universiti Putra Malaysia last night.

Abu Kassim, however, did not go into detail about the excuses.