Transfer of Sarawakian police personnel major disruption to their lives, says NGO
KUCHING: A local nongovernmental organisation (NGO) is not in favour of any move by the Royal Malaysia Police to reduce the number of Sarawakian personnel currently serving in the state, saying any transfer would disrupt the lives of those affected as well as their families.
Habitat for Indigenous and Urban Programme president George Young in a statement yesterday said he had received feedback from members of the force expressing their concern and disappointment over the plan to reduce the number of Sarawakian personnel in the state from the current 70 per cent to 40 per cent.
“Many of those in the force have shared their consternation about having to (possibly) uproot themselves and their families to be transferred to Peninsular Malaysia or Sabah, especially considering the hardships faced during the current Covid-19 pandemic.
“It’s a major disruption to their lives, their children’s education plus the risk of not being able to access and support their extended families with restrictions on travel during this pandemic,” he said.
George was responding to remarks by Bukit Aman Management Department director Datuk Ramli Din who during a recent working visit to the state said the 70 per cent figure of Sarawakians serving in the state exceeded the 40 per cent target of locals serving in their home state.
Ramli was reported to have said that the police would consider reducing the number in stages to about 40 per cent as part of its rotation posting procedure especially for high-profile posts, and to give opportunities to senior personnel to be posted back to their home state.
George in his statement argued that more Sarawakians are needed in the police force in the state as they are more familiar with the languages, customs, topography and local affairs.
This, he added, would be advantageous in getting cooperation, information and collaboration from the public and make crime prevention and law enforcement more effective.
He elaborated that in view of the shared border with Kalimantan, only the locals would be familiar enough to handle related matters, whether smuggling, theft, robbery or other illegal or criminal activities.
“The fact that many of the local Sarawakians have relatives or friends from the same or similar ethnic groups living in Kalimantan, gives them the unique advantage to obtain intelligence that often leads to the arrest and prosecution of such criminals,” he reasoned.