MP SPEAKS How can the repeal of the Emergency Ordinance (EO) be deemed to be the cause of rising crime, when the official crime index was at its peak before the EO was repealed?
The repeal of the EO at the end of 2011 has been blamed by both the government and the Royal Malaysia Police as the sole cause of rising crime, particularly in the urban centres.
The repeal of the Act has denied the police the power to detain ‘suspects’ without trial. The police are on record as saying that, because they can’t put them away bypassing the criminal justice system, they are walking free on our streets to create havoc - resulting in the rising crime rate.
The issue at hand is whether the repeal of the EO is indeed the cause of rising crime, or whether it has become a convenient whipping boy for the police to cover up their lack of professionalism and competence in solving cases as well as in preventing crime.
Despite all the sound and fury, the police have yet to present a shred of evidence that the recent spate of crime is due to “hardened criminals” having been released from the Simpang Renggam detention centre.
In fact, if we study crime statistics over the past decade, these show that, during the years when the EO was in place, the incidence of crime had risen aggressively.
The Malaysian crime index rose rapidly from 2003 to 2008 (see chart). At its peak, the crime rate rose by 34 percent from 2004 to 2007. During this period, the EO was at the disposal of the police; yet, crime was seemingly unstoppable.
The repeal of the EO at the end of 2011 has been blamed by both the government and the Royal Malaysia Police as the sole cause of rising crime, particularly in the urban centres.
The repeal of the Act has denied the police the power to detain ‘suspects’ without trial. The police are on record as saying that, because they can’t put them away bypassing the criminal justice system, they are walking free on our streets to create havoc - resulting in the rising crime rate.The issue at hand is whether the repeal of the EO is indeed the cause of rising crime, or whether it has become a convenient whipping boy for the police to cover up their lack of professionalism and competence in solving cases as well as in preventing crime.
Despite all the sound and fury, the police have yet to present a shred of evidence that the recent spate of crime is due to “hardened criminals” having been released from the Simpang Renggam detention centre.
In fact, if we study crime statistics over the past decade, these show that, during the years when the EO was in place, the incidence of crime had risen aggressively.
The Malaysian crime index rose rapidly from 2003 to 2008 (see chart). At its peak, the crime rate rose by 34 percent from 2004 to 2007. During this period, the EO was at the disposal of the police; yet, crime was seemingly unstoppable.
After the launch of the ‘Reducing Crime’ National Key Result Area (NKRA) in 2009, the official crime index according to the government had dropped significantly, from 209,417 cases in 2009 to 157,891 cases in 2011.
This was attributed in the government’s Transformation Plan to greater allocation of resources to patrolling and fighting street crimes.
The ‘achievement’, if true, was never ever attributed by the police to wider use of the EO to detain alleged criminals without trial.
Heed premier’s advice
While we dispute the accuracy and completeness of the police crime index, the force itself has presented that crime levels last year were the lowest in a decade, at 145,891 cases or a decline of 7.6% from 2011.
More tellingly, the drop, according to police statistics, was achieved despite the fact that the EO was repealed during the year.
Hence, based on the official crime statistics presented by the police, how can the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar (right) and Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi now blame the cause of crime almost entirely on the repeal of the EO?We call upon both the IGP and the home minister to heed Najib Abdul Razak’s advice when he announced the repeal of the EO in 2012 - that “now police must train themselves how to look for evidence”.
Rather than detain suspects under the EO and chuck them into detention centres, the premier told the police to now “provide evidence to charge them in court”.
The focus of the debate to fighting crime must be on how to improve the professionalism, efficiency and effectiveness of the police.
It should not be on how new laws should be drafted to allow for detention without trial - merely to overcome police incompetence.
TONY PUA is the DAP’s member of parliament for Petaling Jaya Utara.
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