MEDIA STATEMENT
15 AUGUST 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SOLVE ENFORCEMENT FIRST, NOT THE RETURN OF DRACONIAN LAWS
Crime continues to be rampant. The latest was last late Friday afternoon, 9th of August, where a 28 year old legal adviser was nearly kidnapped as she was heading towards the junction of Jalan Maarof near Saidina Abu Bakar As-Siddiq Mosque in Bangsar Baru (The Star, 14 Ogos 2013).
The Home Minister, Datuk Zahid Hamidi’s response to the high incidence of crime was to re-introduce draconian laws, in the wake of the repeal of the Emergency Ordinance (EO) – signaling that the government and the PDRM are at a loss in fighting the antics of known criminals whose records are supposed to be readily available.
Instead of frantically searching for a politically sound solution, the Minister and the government should pay attention to the near-kidnapped victim’s statement last Friday:
“When I asked the police to check for CCTV footage of the car, I was informed the CCTV was under the jurisdiction of the Kuala Lumpur City Hall and that it wasn’t working,” she said, adding that her case was now being followed up by a CID officer.
The non-functioning CCTV problem – one of the most important elements in the safety and security monitoring – is nothing new. On Astro Awani last 7th of August, the Mayor of Kuala Lumpur, Datuk Seri Phesal Talib had admitted that 60 percent of the 419 CCTV cameras that were installed by DBKL were not functioning.
The 419 CCTVs are not the only expenditure gone to waste. At least RM4 million was planned to be allocated since 2012 through the Tabung Keselamatan 1Wilayah to fund efforts to combat crime in public and housing areas -including the installation of CCTVs. To date, have absolutely no way of verifying how many of these cameras have been installed, and more importantly – how many are actually functioning.
The Prime Minister has pledged that the Police will be provided with anything that they need in order to combat violent crimes (The Malay Mail, 30 July 2013). However, the government do not seem committed to solving the problems involving the weaknesses in crime monitoring, supervision and prevention -all subject to mere internal KPI without an effective IPCMC.
At the bare minimum, working closed circuit television cameras (CCTV) for functional monitoring is what we need. Similarly, more officers need to be deployed in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
According to the statistics gathered from government sources -about 30 percent of PDRM’s officers are placed under the managerial, administrative and logistics departments. If the government is serious in combatting crime, PDRM needs to be restructured -with the bulk of the police workforce stationed in the crime prevention department.
At the moment, the police to the population ratio is at 1:275, which is very near to international standards. It is clear that what we need is more police to prevent crimes, not just sitting in the office or being burdened with the task of spying on BN political opponents.
Providing enough crime prevention tools and enough ground police workforce are the basics that need to be prioritised for an efficient and effective crime prevention plan. When such internal failures occur, how are we expected to swallow blame – placed on the lack of overarching powers such as the Emergency Ordinance? It is the government that has failed to properly maintain surveillance equipments crucial in crime prevention.
When the Minister proceeds to feed us with the 260,000 hardcore criminals’ theory – it should provide the impetus for further scrutiny in the government’s track record – from surveillance, efficient policing to rate of successful prosecution.
Malaysia already has enough laws to prevent crimes; our weaknesses is on the enforcement of these laws, providing and maintaining surveillance such as CCTVs and patrol cars, as well as having enough trained police officers on the streets.
All of these problems and their solutions can be unraveled through a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Security and the creation of IPCMC (Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission) as suggested by the Royal Commission’s Inquiry that was chaired by the Former Chief Justice Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin bin Haji Abdullah (2004). The rest, as they say is up to political will.
Nurul Izzah Anwar
Lembah Pantai Member of Parliament
KEADILAN Vice President
Footnotes:
http://www.astroawani.com/news/show/dbkl-jawab-isu-cctv-akui-60-peratus-tidak-berfungsi-19884
http://www.sinarharian.com.my/edisi/selangor-kl/tabung-keselamatan-1wilayah-persekutuan-ditubuh-1.85438
http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/anything-to-fight-crime-najib-tells-cops
