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Media Statement  
by Lim Kit Siang  
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(Parliament, Wednesday) : The worsening crime index, with 6.7 women  raped and 1.65 persons murdered daily last year compared with 4 women raped and  1.5 persons murdered daily in 2003 is another another  flop of the  Abdullah premiership of the past 39 months – in the company of other failures such as worsening corruption, falling public service delivery standards, decline in educational quality, fall in FDIs and greater racial and religious polarization in the country.

When Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced the establishment of a Royal Police Commission in his second month as the fifth Prime Minister of the country, he held up hopes to the long-suffering public that the worsening crime problem in the country where Malaysians have lost the freedom from crime and the fear of crime in the streets, public places and the privacy of their homes would at long last be addressed with an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police service.

In fact, at the press conference after announcing the Royal Police Commission proposal in his speech to 300 police officers, including police commissioners, state police chiefs, General Operations Force brigade commanders and commandants on December 29, 2003, Abdullah referred specifically to the reducing crime rate from 167,173 cases in 2000 to 156,469 in 2001 and 149,042 in 2002.

Is Abdullah aware that since his premiership and his personally helming both the Internal Security Ministry and Finance Ministry, the crime index had been on an unchecked increase from 156,315 in 2003 to 156,455 in 2004, leaping to 198,017 in 2005 and making another jump to 225,836 in 2006?

I am surprised at  the crime index statistics given in today’s  New Straits Times report “Crime rate up 15 per cent”, citing as the crime index of 171,604 in 2005 and 198,622 in 2006 as this is very different from the crime index statistics of  198,017 for 2005 and 225,836 for 2006, as given by the Royal Malaysian Police website, http://www.rmp.gov.my/rmp03/statindeks2006.htm,  as follows:

JENAYAH INDEKS
2005-2006

Is somebody in the police trying to play down the gravity of the worsening crime situation in the country, which had been one of Abdullah’s centerpieces in his reform pledge and programme on assuming the premiership?

Why had the crime index jumped from 156,315 in 2003 when Abdullah became Prime Minister to 225,836 last year – a huge jump of some 45% instead of the reverse?

The crime index is actually a serious  under-estimate of the gravity of the crime situation, as there is a high incidence where victims of crime do not lodge police reports as they lack confidence that any good would come out of it apart from incurring a lot of hassle and inconvenience.

In January 2004, Abdullah had directed the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Bakri Omar to tighten discipline in the police force, following major crimes involving policemen, ranging from robbery, rape  and murder -  including one where a bank security guard shot dead a police chief inspector  and his accomplice when they tried to rob the Alliance Bank in Segamat, Johore.

Less than three years later, there have been even more high-profile police involvement in the murder of the Mongolian woman, Altantunya Shaariibuu and the blowing up of her body with C-4 explosives.

As Prime Minister and Home Minister, Abdullah has not said a word about this high-profile case although it has attracted national and international attention and raised many grave questions with far-reaching implications about the involvement of sensitive personalities.

Why did Abdullah respond publicly in January 2004 to ask the then Inspector-General of Police to look into police discipline following high-profile cases involving several policemen in serious crime, but has kept completely mum  in the case of the murder of Altantunya Shaariibuu, when top police security personnel are implicated in the crime?

On the worsening crime index in the past three years, it would appear that the Royal Police Commission with its 125 proposals to create an efficient, professional and world-class police service to keep crime low had been a total waste of time and public resources.

Is Abdullah prepared to own up to the failure of his Ministry and the Police in the past three years to keep the crime  situation in check?  For a start, is he prepared to bring to the March Parliament the necessary legislation to establish the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) which is clearly an indispensable watchdog to ensure that the Malaysian Police can graduate to become an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police service sensitive about human rights  to keep crime low and the streets, public places and privacy of homes safe again for Malaysians and visitors.

(31/1/2007)