Media statement by Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, 9^th June 2012: 

Gruesome reminders of failure of Najib premiership in one of its most important tasks – to reduce crime and eradicate the fear of crime

The bloody mugging of Bersih steering committee member Wong Chin Huat while jogging near his home in Section 18, Petaling Jaya this morning, and the serious case of Bandar Kinrara, Puchong teacher Teoh Soo Kim, 51, fighting for her life after she suffered severe head injuries and lost consciousness in an abduction on Wednesday are gruesome reminders to Malaysians that the Najib administration has failed in one of its most important tasks – to reduce crime and to eradicate the fear of crime among Malaysians.

It is no use the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and the CEO of Pemandu and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Idris Jala boasting about Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and National Key Result Areas (NKRA) successes, such as claiming that the overall crime index for 2011 had dropped by 11.1%, while street crime decreased significantly by 39.7% compared with 35% in 2010 – and a marked improvement from the 15% reduction in street crime set under the NKRA in 2010 – when Malaysians still do not feel safe from the fear of crime whether in the privacy of their homes, or outside in the streets and public places.

The mobilisation of over 14,00 police personnel on April 28 to deal with the peaceful Bersih 3.0 rally, and the continued demonisation of 200,000 Malaysians regardless of race, religion, class, region, age or gender who had gathered peacefully for a common national cause for a clean election have made the failure of the Najib government to reduce crime and eradicate the fear of crime among Malaysians in the urban areas even more unacceptable.

Seven years after the Dzaiddin Police Royal Commission of Inquiry which made 125 recommendations in 2005 to transform the Malaysian police force into an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police service focussed on three core functions to reduce crime, eradicate corruption and protect human rights, the Malaysian police force has still to undergo a total change of its mindset to transform its function from regime policing to democratic policing – i.e. changing its priority from protecting the government, Ministers and leaders of the day to protecting the citizenry and their fundamental rights, including the fundamental right to a low crime rate and to be free from crime, as well as the human rights which a modern citizen is entitled in a democratic society.

The alphabet soup of GTP, NKRAs, ETPs, PTPs etc popularised by the Najib premiership has no meaning to ordinary Malaysians who want to know what the government is doing to ensure that Wong Chin Huat can jog safely near his home in Section 18 PJ and citizens like Teoh Soo Kim can safely go about her work and life without fear of being a victim of a dastardly criminal attack.

Let Hishammuddin and the Inspector-General of Police tell Malaysians what they are doing to deliver low crime rate and eradicate the fear of crime among Malaysians!

*Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary Leader & MP for Ipoh Timor