Learning General Templer's Way

With a new IGP on the way, the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) may have another chance at reform if the new police chief makes tough decisions like the British High Commissioner to Malaya, Gerald Templer, once did.

When Templer (right) was put in charge of a troubled Malaya, he had his work cut out for him. Not only had he to deal with an increasingly violent communist insurgency, there were a host of other issues as well.

Among his many problems was a cowed and distrustful public, an inept police force and a severely demoralised civil service.

These are problems that the present-day PDRM, and the one inheriting the mantle of IGP, similarly face; the force struggles with a rising crime rate, a disheartened rakyat and internal rot in the form of demoralised and corrupt members of the service.

Undaunted with the challenges of his time, the cunning political soldier that Templer was, set out to work at reforming the very foundations of governance even before he began to combat the Communist threat.

Templer's first order of business was to excise the rot from the colonial administration, cutting out time-wasters whose hearts were not in the fight and corrupt officials whose minds resided in their pockets.

This not only served as a warning to anyone who shirked their responsibilities, but also heartened those for whom duty still held true.

Cut out the rot first

It created a lean and mean fighting machine. It is something that the seemingly bloated and perceived as ineffectual PDRM would do well to emulate, before it can even think of fighting the increasing crime rate and rekindling the public's trust.

Mere cosmetic moves like refurbishing regulations, fancy new-fangled equipment and so-called police station leagues are no answer if the force itself is riddled with rot.

For despite vehement denials, it may be expedient to admit there are police officers who are less than motivated to pursue their duty, and some who not only neglect but cross the line between law and crime.

One of the biggest challenges for the new IGP, if he is serious about reform, is to cut out this rot and ensure that the police are reminded of their duty.

Duty, like justice, must not only be served, but also seen to be served.

Winning hearts and minds

After reining in the colonial service, Templer then targeted the public image of what seemed to be an ineffectual and public-shy security force.

He initiated what was the precursor of the modern psy-war phrase 'hearts and minds' programme, with the main task to create and reinforce the impression that the job of the police was truly to serve the public.

As part of this effort, the Malayan Police Commissioner Arthur E Young instituted Operation Service in 1952.

This was the origin of the police badge that featured the all too familiar handshake, with the motto, Bersedia Berkhidmat, or Ready to Serve. It was a campaign aimed at engaging, building and restoring public trust.

Operation Service succeeded in winning over the public, ensuring the cooperation of the rakyat in fighting the communists and countering the once negative perception of the police. Public support multiplies the effectiveness of security initiatives.

A return to this philosophy would go far in restoring the tarnished image of the police, not to mention in helping to re-forge the win-win relationship with the rakyat that will increase police effectiveness in crime fighting.

Re-inventing the police

With a reformed civil service and a supportive public behind him, Templer had a tool in his hands with which to fight the communists, but as he found out the tool he had was less than effective.

A spade cannot drive in nails like a hammer nor can a hammer dig like a spade.

What Templer needed to do was make sure that the tool was re-prioritised to handle his immediate need, that was to fight the communists, something that the police force then was ill-equipped to do.

He went on to re-organise the police for counter-insurgency warfare and re-invigorate the Special Branch in order to the be able to infiltrate, spy on and then subvert the massive country-wide communist network.

This is another strategy that the PDRM needs to consider; to re-tool for the current threat, but unlike the previous two, it is a solution that must be followed in reverse.

Just as Templer reformed the Malayan police into a counter-insurgency force to be reckoned with, so must the PDRM be uncoupled from those roots and be re-made into a force for public order, instead of the tool for the current regime to monitor and suppress political dissent that many say it has become.

Duty to party or public?

The public can observe ample evidence of this in the bloated ranks and funding for the Special Branch, that spends more of its time observing the opposition, journalists and activists than any criminal enterprise.

It is important to observe that the duty of the police is to enforce public order and not help prop up the increasingly unpopular BN regime.

For this final lesson from Templer, the newly-made IGP must search his soul and look deep inside it. Is his duty to the BN regime or the public?

In a perfect world, the answer is obvious: the police should serve the public. But we do not live in such idealistic times and the police hierarchy is all too often built from the ground-up in the same mould as the previous IGP was perceived to be - an obedient, unquestioning arm of the executive.

While the standard line has always been that the police must answer to the government of the day, the question to ask is perhaps where the government derives its authority from, the true answer to which is from the voting public.

Based on this reasoning, the police must serve the public.

The way to reform is top down and hopefully the new IGP will take up this challenge, failing which he and PDRM will continue to be another puppet on government strings, an automaton doing the BN regime's bidding.
Hazlan Zakaria
Malaysiakini