PETALING JAYA: A group representing retired armed forces personnel has urged home affairs minister Hamzah Zainudin not to interfere in Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Abdul Hamid Bador’s efforts to clean up the image of the police force.
National Patriots Association (Patriot) president Mohamed Arshad Raji said it was “unbecoming” of Hamzah to contradict Hamid’s claim of a police cartel aiming to topple its chief.
Arshad said it was clear that Hamzah had either misunderstood the IGP’s words or was clueless on what was happening within the police force.
“Discipline and personnel management is an internal police matter. The IGP made a serious statement and it should not be taken lightly.
“The IGP has his own way of tackling the problems in the force and the minister should not interfere,” he said in a statement.
Arshad added that Patriot was “disgusted” to hear of the corruption in the public administration and government, adding that it supported Hamid’s efforts to try and get rid of similar elements from within the police force.
In a Sinar Harian report on Wednesday, Hamid revealed that a group of younger police officers had formed a cartel to dominate the force and topple him.
According to Hamid, the cartel ensured their collaborators were offered promotions so they could dominate the force and the police hierarchy, which made it easier for them to carry out their “dirty work”.
He told FMT that he had to expose the matter to deter other “Young Turks” from executing similar plans, and said the situation was currently under control.
In response, Hamzah last night urged Hamid to report the issue to the Police Force Commission (SPP), saying it was the first time he had heard about such a cartel within the police force.
“If Hamid’s allegation is true, he should raise the matter at the SPP meeting. He never brought it to the attention of the SPP, the highest commission in the police force,” he said, adding that they would look into it.
Also weighing in on the issue was former IGP Musa Hassan, who urged Hamid to expose the “cartel” attempting to topple him so that action could be taken.
Musa said cartels were usually individuals from outside the police force with close links to certain police officers.
“The IGP must identify them so action can be taken,” he told FMT.
Hamid replaced Mohamad Fuzi Harun, who retired as IGP on May 4, 2019.
He had earlier led Bukit Aman’s Special Branch before being transferred to the Prime Minister’s Department in 2015.
He went public a few days later about his removal being linked to his insistence on probing the 1MDB scandal.
Following Pakatan Harapan’s win in the 2018 general election, Hamid was reappointed as the director of the Special Branch.
Hamid’s two-year contract was reported to expire on May 3, 2021.