KUALA LUMPUR: Seputeh member of parliament Teresa Kok has questioned the need for top officials to investigate the alleged verbal abuse of an Immigration officer by a senior civil servant at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Aug 3.
She said the incident involving Public Services Department director-general Datuk Seri Mohd Shafiq Abdullah could be investigated internally by calling both parties to a discussion, rather than forming a committee with important heads of government agencies, such as Attorney-General Tan Sri Idrus Harun, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani, Auditor General Datuk Seri Nik Azman Nik Abdul Majid and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki.
"I feel there is no real need for all four agencies to be involved in investigating the incident, which allegedly saw Shafiq reprimand an Immigration officer at KLIA for not reviewing Shafiq's and his delegates' travel documents.
"PSD, on Aug 4, said it is of the view that non-compliance in reviewing Immigration documents, such as passports is a serious offense.
"In fact, officers who do not comply with overseas Immigration regulations may face disciplinary action.
"This matter can be resolved through a meeting between PSD and Immigration, and there is no reason to sensationalise it in the media," Kok said in a statement today.
She added that she agreed with former diplomat Datuk Noor Farida Mohd Ariffin, who is a member of the G25, that forming a special investigation committee with key officials was "overkill".
"Given that the Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Zuki Ali has said that the findings will be presented to the prime minister, why (does the) prime minister not call a meeting between Shafiq and the Immigration director-general, with Zuki as the witness, to settle the problem?"
Kok said a meeting chaired by the prime minister will save time, as the four top officials in the investigation committee were busy with their duties.
Senior lawyer S.N. Nair has also slammed the formation of the committee.
He said those in this committee were key people, and it was "highly irregular" and could even be unlawful to have all four of them in the committee.
"The selection of the A-G to chair the committee has deviated from the provisions of the Federal Constitution and Public Officers (Conduct and Discipline) 2002, better known as the general orders," he said, adding that Idrus, being the highest legal officer of the land, should be better informed of the law.
He said the committee could be an "explicit violation of the constitutional provisions", unless proper procedures under the law were applied.
Nair said forming this committee could be seen as not being fair to a senior civil servant and denying him his legal and constitutional rights.