LETTER | Change or be changed

LETTER | Bukit Aman CID director Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain did not hold back in calling a spade a spade when he admonished all the district and state CID chiefs on the problem of corruption within the ranks.

Shuhaily clearly had a grip on the pulse of the problem when he claimed that many worked hand in glove with crime syndicates for money.

I presume that he meant in general those syndicates that involve vice, illegal immigrants and gambling although there are a small number of cases of police involvement in serious and property crimes.

It is definitely a serious problem and his strong message was a clear indication that he meant business in wanting to clean up his own backyard with the overall objective of fighting crime and corruption.

More importantly, Shuhaily was making his statement transparent for the public to know what his stand is. Although we have heard all this before, he should be given all the support and every opportunity available in this difficult endeavour.

Words alone are insufficient to make progress in Suhaily’s courageous and honest call to his fellow officers.

Even the previous IGP Abdul Hamid Bador had indicated the same allegations of officers being in cahoots with these syndicates.

More seriously were Hamid’s allegations that there was a cartel within the force to protect these criminals.

Sadly, he had only words and did not utilise all the assets at his disposal to identify and weed out these chameleons within the force - both by overt and covert means. Maximum admissible evidence should have been gathered before making such allegations public.

The new CID director will have his hands full in identifying these corrupt wolves in sheep’s clothing and weed them out. Ultimately, they will have to be kicked out of the police force.

The risk Shuhaily has to take and should take, is to face the possibility of being a general without an army for a while, before beefing up his ground troops with the personnel of his choice who will share similar aspirations.

This really is a tall order and he must be given time, space and support by the whole socio-political system in order for him to make the criminal investigation department effective in delivering the goods.

All the best sir.

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