The revised police act show that the government no longer works for the rakyat
Well, if it wasn’t obvious before, it definitely is now. When democracy was first conceived, it was established in a way that the government serves the people (or rakyat, if you will), however, in Malaysia for the past 60 over years, it is painfully obvious that this has never been the case.
Now, this notion becomes even more obvious as motorists will now need to be more cautious on the road following recent amendments to the Police Act 1967 (Act 344) during the recent parliamentary sittings. Yes, while people are starving and homeless, the VIP convoys need the Government’s help. Makes sense.
Moreover, under the revised Section 21, police have now been granted legal authority to conduct escort duties, particularly for VIP convoys. Now every now and again, these VIP convoys are ferrying the ultra wealthy businessmen and the like but for the most part, it is a Government official like a minister in these convoys.
The amendments, which included appointing the Yang di-Pertuan Agong as the Honorary Commissioner-in-Chief of the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM), were among ten proposed amendments that were passed by Parliament on 22 March 2024, after being first tabled on 18 March 2024.
According to Paul Tan’s Automotive News, the amended Act clearly states under Clause 4 of Section 21 that it is the duty of police officers to carry out escort duties. So who benefits from this new amendment? Obviously the government who keeps telling the rakyat are asked to stop complaining about rising prices.
On top of that, Subsection 2 of Section 21 states “any person who obstructs, opposes or disobeys any reasonable direction given by any police officer in the performance of his duties under this section shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction.”
This means such offences during escort operations have been increased whereas offenders can face fines up to RM10,000 and potential jail time up to two years, a substantial jump from the previous RM200 fine and two-month sentence under this subsection. Good to know the Government is debating important issues, right?
Other changes include higher penalties under Section 26 for not stopping at police barriers, with maximum fines doubled to RM2,000 but honestly, this last amendment to the Police Act is actually a good one as anyone who purposely goes through a police barrier without stopping should be punished anyway.
We got all this from The Sun and their full article is linked here. Thank you The Sun for the information and images.
