Zahid Hamidi Can't Decide If Malaysia's Crime Rate Has Increased Or Decreased

According to statistics furnished by Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to Er Teck Hwa (DAP - Bakri), the number of crime cases for 2008, including violent and crimes on property, stood at 211,645.

As of September this year, the number plunged to 111,020 cases.

themalaysianinsider.com

Violent crimes include murder, rape, gang-related crime and armed robbery, while property crimes include housebreaking, snatch theft, vehicle theft and burglary. Violent crimes plunged from 37,817 cases in 2008 to 22,357 cases as of September this year.

themalaysianinsider.com

The index, which includes violent and property crimes, spiked to 212,678 cases in 2009, then dropped to 186,162 in 2010 and 166,295 in 2011.

Ahmad Zahid said while overall crime rates have shown a decline, serious crimes have gone up since the repeal of the Emergency Ordinance.
"Crime statistics have indeed gone down but serious and organised crimes have soared," he told a press conference at the Parliament lobby.

The latest of these contradictions is the Home Minister, Dato' Seri Zahid Hamidi insisting that violent crimes have gone up in Malaysia despite the official police statistics released in the Parliament clearly indicating otherwise.

malaysia-chronicle.com

Er today questioned whether Ahmad Zahid or the statistics were lying. He pointed out that Putrajaya cited rising violent crimes as a reason to bring back draconian measures, including amendments to Prevention of Crime Act (PCA) which include detention without trial.

themalaysianinsider.com

"This is a serious issue. Either the statistics or the minister was lying. The minister has misled the people and Parliament.

"If the minister said the statistics furnished to me were inaccurate, then he is trying to mislead Parliament by furnishing inaccurate answers.

themalaysianinsider.com

"Why did the minister furnish me with the answer that is contrary to what he has said all along?" Er asked.

He added that the ministry was self-indulgent, adding that no one believed the numbers to be accurate or credible.

themalaysianinsider.com

Yet, despite the above, the Home Minister insisted that violent crimes have increased significantly and hence it served as the justification for the Government to amend the Prevention of Crime Act to include the controversial detention without trial provisions.

malaysia-chronicle.com

Dato' Seri Zahid Hamidi cannot have his cake and eat it too. He must either admit that he is wrong is insisting that violent crimes have increased, which meant that he his misled the Parliament to hastily approve the draconian elements of the Prevention of Crime Act, or that the Police statistics are completely unreliable and cannot be trusted.

At the same time, we object to the attempt by the Home Minister to tap of the fear of ordinary Malaysians to justify draconian detention without trial laws to curb crime, when it is the professionalism, competence and organisation of the police force which is the key areas requiring massive reforms and improvements to win the battle against crime.

malaysia-chronicle.com

Our position is very simply that the levels of crime in Malaysia is unacceptably high and clearly the police statistics, as previously highlighted, has been suspiciously manipulated to present a picture of moderating crime rates. In part, this has been done by shifting the classification of certain crime incidents from "index" to "non-index" crimes.

malaysia-chronicle.com

Dato' Seri Zahid's conflicting stand on crime has completely destroyed whatever credibility left with his police force.

malaysia-chronicle.com

We call upon the Home Minister to stop attempting to play politics with crime and start addressing the real reason why crime is at an unacceptable level in the country and support Prime Minister’s call that “the police must now train themselves how to look for evidence… Instead of just catching suspects and chucking them into EO detention”.

malaysia-chronicle.com