I WILL NOT COMPROMISE
Zahid stressed his commitment to not compromise on any officers or enforcers sentenced with the crime.
“I won’t look at who is involved, I am colour blind and I’m not embarrassed to take action against those who are entrusted with duties but betray trusts, or the black sheep which gives everyone a bad name.”
“I never want to compromise, I don’t feel ashamed when I cut off a gangrenous limb. If not, it will harm the body... we have to be clean so that we look clean and for perception to change and our trustability to increase.”
Zahid said this while addressing participants of a postgraduate diploma programme at the National Institute of Public Administration (Intan) here yesterday.
He said although the crime index has dropped, the negative perception on enforcement personnel has not changed.
Zahid said there were those who still believed police officers are not doing their job and the Home Ministry was not playing its role effectively or was not good enough in carrying out its duties.
“This perception does not change because there are preconceived notions and prejudice. Prejudice starts from the first impression. When people see the police they associate it with corruption.
“That is the perception,” he said while citing the recent arrests as among the instances that fueled the prejudice.
Zahid said that while the government’s hope to have all its enforcement personnel to be free of corruption or abuse of power may be a tall order, it was not impossible to do.
He also congratulated Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar and his deputy Tan Sri Noor Rashid Ibrahim for being clean and want the police force to be on the frontlines of the war on graft.