Promotion for 50% of 'exemplary young officers', says top cop

At least 50% of exemplary young police officers will be promoted to senior roles to lead the force, says Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain.

He said the matter had been discussed with Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

"This is important so that groups of officers do not retire at the same time. At least there will be continuity of longer serving officers who will then take up the higher positions in the force," he said at a meeting with chief editors of media agencies at Bukit Aman yesterday.
 
He said the decision to promote these officers came after they were faced with situations where several heads of departments went into retirement in the same year.

On the salary increment for lower ranked officers, Razarudin said the matter had been taken up for review with the Public Service Department (PSD) director-general. 

"We will look into it and discuss it with the PSD. One of the matters for review is the salary. 

"For example, RM2,500 is considered adequate for a lower ranking officer in a rural area but when they are transferred to Kuala Lumpur, they become the 'urban poor'," he said.  

Razarudin said some of these officers in Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bharu also had to share rooms with others due to high rental.

"These (lower ranked) officers have to budget their expenses as they are not from rich backgrounds but are mostly just normal people," he said.