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Media Statement   
by Lim Kit Siang  
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(Parliament, Saturday) : All Malaysians are shocked by news today that former Penang Chief Police Officer, Datuk Albert Mah, 82, is the latest victim of the skyrocketing crime wave in the country and pray for his swift and full recovery.

Mah suffered serious head injuries after he tried to single-handedly take on the five robbers at his home in Petaling Jaya at about 4.30 a.m. yesterday.

It is tragic that the former top crime buster should now be busted by crime – a grim reminder that no one, whether ordinary Malaysian, VIP or VVIP, is safe in Malaysia with the skyrocketing crime wave in the country.

The crime index in the country has worsened from 156,315 cases in 2003 to 226,836 cases in 2006 – a sharp rise of 45.1% in the past three years when the police force had set the target of reducing the crime index by five per cent each year!

In the past three years, violent crime had skyrocketed by 85.8 per cent from 22,790 cases in 2003 to 42,343 cases in 2006, with rape cases registering the highest increase of 65.5 per cent – reaching an average of 6.7 women raped daily in 2006 compared to an average of four women raped daily in 2003. In 2003, an average of 1.5 persons were murdered daily; but in 2006, this has increased to an average of 1.65 persons murdered daily.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had rightly commended the police for its quick action in apprehending the perpertrators of the deadly armed robbery at a jewellery store in Subang Jaya the previous Saturday.

But what has he done to fulfill his pledge when he first became Prime Minister 39 months ago that one of his top priorities would be to reduce crime to restore to Malaysians their fundamental right to be free from crime and the fear of clrime, whether in the streets, public places or the privacy of their homes? Today, Malaysians feel even more unsafe from crime then when he became Prime Minister.

Abdullah had been the Minister in charge of police for the past seven years and it is time he take full personal responsibility for the worsening crime situation in the country by providing personal leadership in the campaign to reduce crime – starting by ending all the procrastinations in the establishment of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) to create an efficient, incorruptible, professional and world-class Police Service.

(10/2/2007)