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Why are there 82,000 police personnel, including those off-duty, to issue traffic summons but no 82,000 police personnel to fight crime and reduce the fear of crime?

Media Statement
by Lim Kit Siang

(Petaling Jaya,  Tuesday): The establishment of a Royal Commission to review the police force in totality  is a feather in the cap of Datuk Seri  Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in his first two months as the new Prime Minister, but it is only the first step in the long road of  police reforms and modernization to fully restore public confidence in the police to provide security and protection to the citizenry and community.

The Malaysian Quality of Life 2002 Report issued by the Economic Planning Unit of the Prime Minister’s Department last year on  the progress and trends in national development for the period 1990 to 2000 admitted a deterioration in the “Public Safety Index” in the Malaysian Quality of Life Index (MQLI 2000), using 1990 as the base year. The Public Safety Index fell  by 16.01 points in the ten-year period.

The Public Safety Index is  measured by two sub-indices: - (i)  crimes per thousand population and  (ii) road accidents per thousand vehicles. The crime rate increased from 3.8 in 1990 to 7.1 in 2000 with more than four-fifths of the crimes related to property. Road accidents per thousand vehicles increased from 19.4 in 1990 to 21 in 2000.  Almost half of the road accidents involved motor-cycles.

In the past three years since the MQLI 2000, both sub-indices of the Public Safety Index had worsened considerably, marked on the one hand by the double rise in crime rate and the fear of crime where Malaysians had lost their most basic human right to security and to  live without fear about their safety and that of their loved ones, whether in the streets, public places or in the privacy of their homes. On the other hand, the high incidence of road accidents, fatalities and injuries have made Malaysia one of the most dangerous countries in the world in terms of road safety.

One question all Malaysians are asking is why there are 82,000 police personnel, including those off-duty, to issue traffic summons but no 82,000 police personnel to fight crime and reduce the fear of crime of Malaysians?

 

In the wake of the public outrage at the gruesome and brutal abduction-rape-murder of Canny Ong in June this year,  police officers were on the defensive about the double rise in crime rate and the fear of crime and the failure of the police  to  make the streets, public spaces and homes safe from crime  for Malaysians to work, play and live free from the fear about their security 

 

Malaysians were told that out of the 82,000 police personnel, only 6,000 were  involved in fighting crimes and out of this small number, half were  engaged in investigation work.

 

Can the new Inspector-General of Police, Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Omar explain why there are 82,000 police personnel, including those off-duty, to issue traffic summons but no 82,000 police personnel to fight crime and reduce the fear of crime of Malaysians?

 

This is a matter which the Royal Commission should examine, and the empowering of 82,000 police personnel, including those off-duty and involved with desk-work, to issue traffic summons should be suspended until a thorough study had been made as there is already the  beginning of an avalanche of public complaints about abuses of power and fears of creating new openings for corrupt practices from such a new ruling

 

A Royal Commission of Inquiry to make recommendations for a modern, professional, competent and responsive police force which could deliver quality world-class police service to reduce crime, the fear of crime and reassure the people about the safety of the streets, public spaces and the homes had been one of the long-standing calls of the DAP.

 

This was one of the five DAP proposals to restore public confidence in the professionalism, efficiency and effectiveness of the police to reduce crime and the fear of crime presented at the DAP public forum on “The lesson from Canny Ong case: Reduce Crime and the Fear of Crime” in Petaling Jaya on July 12, 2003.

 

The Cabinet tomorrow should consider the other four proposals for a modern, professional, competent and responsive police force:

 

  • Restoration  of   political leadership and responsibility for the delivery of a professional, efficient and effective  world-class police service as a  national agenda for the reduction of crime and the fear of crime is not just a police responsibility but also the political responsibility of the government of the day and joint responsibility of the community. 

In a parliamentary democracy, the Home Minister is responsible and answerable to Parliament and the public for the provision of an efficient and effective police service, and he should set strategic direction for the police service by laying down objectives and priorities which represent the major public concerns to be adhered to by the police force, subjecting the police to close monitoring and assessment of their performance by Parliament and the public through performance indicators, policing plans and  annual reports. 

  • Parliament must make up for its failures of the past to give proper priority to the important subject of law and order to ensure citizen safety and the right to live,  work and play  in a safe environment without fear of crime by having annual debates on the issue, as well as by the establishment of an all-party Parliamentary Select Committee on citizen safety and community security to regularly  monitor the performance  of the police service.

  • An  annual National Policing Plan, complemented by a  local policing plan in every police district, setting out the priorities of policing, how they are to be delivered and the  indicators by which performance will be measured.  This will be the basis of an annual parliamentary debate, as well as local community debates,  on the police service. 

  • The  establishment of a National Policing Forum to provide a formal structure to involve the various communities and the civil society, including political parties, NGOs and professional groups, to consider the key elements of the annual national and local policing plans and to  monitor their performances. 

 

It will be a grave mistake and misjudgment to regard a Royal Commission on the police as a magic cure for a modern, efficient, effective and responsive police service when it is only one of the many steps that must taken together if there is the  political will to transform the Malaysian police force into a quality world-class service.

(30/12/2003)

* Lim Kit Siang, DAP National Chairman