Police bumbling and bungling – utter lawlessness

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Media Statement  
by Lim Kit Siang  
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(Parliament, Monday) : On 1^st January 2007, Northern Region Lorry Operators Association held a press conference with DAP Member of Parliament Chong Eng in Bukit Mertajam, complaining the threat of goods being hijacked.

The Association estimated at least 300 lorries in the northern region had been hijacked last year.

The goods transported by the lorries were main copper, iron scraps, plastics and canned food like milo, milk powder and sugar.  One lorry of copper is  worth about RM1 million while the value of  a lorry of plastics is between RM80,000 to RM100,000.

An operator said at the press conference that nine of his lorries were hijacked last year – including  four lorries of copper and four lorries of plastics – traveling from Johor to Penang.

The day the news appeared in the media,  he received a phone call from an unknown location, expressing displeasure that he went to the media and he was told: “Your 10^th lorry will be hijacked”.

True enough. On 4^th January morning, at 7 am, a lorry of his carrying copper was hijacked.  At about 9 am, he  tracked down the location of the lorry in Johor  and informed the police. However, the police gave him the runaround, passing him from one police station to another and even telling him that he must appear at the police station to lodge the report.  Police did not  arrive at the location until   around  1 p.m when all goods had disappeared.

With such incompetent and unprofessional police response, lorry operators have been overawed  by the power and  reach of the hijacking syndicate and are  now too frightened to   speak to the media.

Who can have confidence in the police if  the expose of the high incidence of lorry hijacking can attract instant reprisal accompanied by police bumbling and bungling?

Clearly, the hijacking syndicates are far more superior and professional that the Malaysian police force!  In fact, many would ask whether the power and reach of the  hijacking syndicates indicate that they have also been able to suborn some members of the police force into their service.

Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Musa Hassan must personally act to restore public confidence in the competence, dedication and professionalism of the Malaysian police. 

Isn’t this  another classic case  why there is a crying need for an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) as proposed by the Police  Royal Commission of Inquiry?

When he became Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had set up the Police Royal Commission to come up with proposals to  establish a competent and professional world-class police service.  Abdullah had initially pledged to implement the key proposal of the Police Royal Commission and set up  the IPCMC, but he got  cold-feet when the police committed open insurbordination by going  public with their  strong objections to the IPCMC, accompanied by an open threat of police revolt.

If there is now a IPCMC, the police would not only have to account for its bumbling and bungling on the hijacking of the 10^th lorry of the operator victim, but why the police have allowed a reign of such rampant lawlessness to the extent that  lorry hijacking is virtually a daily occurrence, operating  with such impunity and  utter contempt for  the Malaysian police force.

What is the response of the IGP and the Police?

Yesterday, the Federal CID Direcfor Datuk Christopher Wan Soo  Kee acted in  a most exemplary manner when  led a team to raid gambling dens in Sekinchan.

Will there be equally exemplary police leadership to deal with the crime of lorry hijackings?

(8/1/2007)