Going by Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's recent statement on the crime upsurge, Malaysians have all along been right about the breakdown in law and order and the Barisan Nasional government and police have been shading the truth.
DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang today charged that the home minister's "admission" on the increase in organised and petty crimes goes against what the prime minister and the police have been saying - that the crime index has dropped.
"Is Ahmad Zahid now confirming that the prime minister, police and previous home minister had been wrong and the public right in the past four years about worsening crime situation?
“Is he prepared to be frank and forthright to state whether Malaysians had been fed false and wrong crime statistics in the past four years?”
Lim, who is also Gelang Patah MP, said if that was so, then the home minister should give Malaysians the correct statistics on the crime situation in the country.
"Ahmad Zahid had said that the cabinet was pressured to abolish the Internal Security Act and the Emergency Ordinance, and as a result, the crime rate increased and ‘organised and petty criminals came out of the woodwork'.
“Just before Parliament was dissolved for the 13th general election, Malaysians were told that the country’s crime index had decreased by 26.8 per cent since the first phase of the GTP began in 2009 and that Malaysia had been ranked the safest and most peaceful country in Southeast Asia according to the Global Peace Index.”
Malaysians, he said, were told that the country recorded around 550.1 criminal incidents per 100,000 population, placing Malaysia lower than Singapore, Hong Kong, Britain and the United States.
“So what is Malaysia’s problem?
"The answer is: 'The crime rate is down but Malaysians still do not feel so. Hence, the focus of the second phase of the GTP against crime will be on improving public confidence on safety’, which was why RM272.5 million was allocated in the 2013 Budget to ensure that the rakyat feel safe,” said Lim.
“In fact, this claim of relentless fall in crime rate in the past four years continued to be the official stance after the 13th General Election with the prime minister reiterating his “War Against Crime” speech on June 8.”
He said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had said the crime rate has been falling since the GTP programme against crime, stating that since April this year, the crime rate dropped by 3.1 per cent compared to the same period last year.
However, just recently, the home minister and the inspector-general of police seemed to have decided to ditch all the claims about the success of the GTP programme
and instead, taken the opposite tack that the country is afflicted with rising crime to justify a restoration of EO-like preventive law.
“But where are the new crime statistics? I had put this question to Ahmad Zahid during his winding up of the debate in the Royal address in parliament yesterday, but he did not give a satisfactory answer,” he added. – July 10, 2013.
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