The Parliamentary Caucus on Human Rights and Good Governance will meet on Monday and two items on top of its agenda will be the worsening crime situation in the country particularly in the crime capitals like Johor Baru and Malaysia’s inclusion by the United States Government in “Tier 3” of the worst human trafficking offenders.
The challenge of the Parliamentary Caucus on Human Rights and Good Governance is to ensure that the increased police presence in Johor Baru after the spate of brutal robbery-gang rape crimes that shook the nation is not short-lived, but sustained and results in daily improvement of the crime situation in Johore and country.
The secretary of the Parliamentary Caucus on Human Rights and Good Governance, Chong Eng (DAP MP for Bukit Mertajam) has proposed that the caucus visit Johor Baru to hold a public hearing to help the people of Johor Baru ensure that the war against crime will always be the priority concern of the government and police, and not when there is a public outcry after public patience had been stretched to the limit and snapped with one brutal crime after another.
Although the people of Johor Baru welcome the deployment of an additional 400 cops, 200 police vehicles and establishment of temporary police stations, an equally important question is what strategy is there to ensure the doubling of the productivity of the present 1,800-strong police contingent in Johor Baru.
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Dr. Maximus Ongkili said in Miri yesterday that the government wants to raise productivity of the civil servants and enhance the public service delivery system.
Let this much-promised but yet-to-be-delivered increase in productivity of the public service delivery system start with the 1,800-strong police contingent, for if their productivity in controlling and reducing crime in Johor Baru can be doubled, there should be an immediate improvement in the law-and-order situation with the additional deployment of 400 more cops.
#1 by yellowkingdom on Saturday, 23 June 2007 - 10:21 am
I was told by a friend that he visited the Larkin police station recently. In the compound were some fifty brand new police patrol cars with the upholstery and beacons still bound in plastic. There seems to be a shortage of manpower to operate these cars. Are they part of the 200 cars promised by the govt.? Perhaps, the personnel are still being trained and not ready to operate the vehicles. Anyone has seen or taken a picture of this?
#2 by HJ Angus on Saturday, 23 June 2007 - 10:37 am
With the problems at Proton don’t be surprised to find many new cars parked at police stations in the country.
I did see 2 fairly new patrol cars on the road yesterday.
#3 by Cinapek on Saturday, 23 June 2007 - 10:43 am
Seeing is believing.
We hear all these promises of more cars and policemen on the streets. The press reported the police promise that there is increase in patrols from 11.00pm to 7 am. I drive my daughter to school every morning at 6.30am (too dangerous for her to wait for school bus) passing through Tampoi where two of the recent rape cases and one murder of a young girl took place recently. Through the course of the day, my errands and fetching my daughter will involve about 6 to 8 trips through Tampoi and the rest of the city. Todate I have not seen a SINGLE police car or policeman anywhere in Tampoi and the way to the city. Even the hardworking speedtrap at the flyover to Angsana has not been seen for quite a while. Coincidence?
BTW, Tampoi has a police station. Yet it has the three violent crimes recently plus the robbery and murder of the young salesgirl in nearby Perling last August and the abductions and rape of two other girls in Perling and nearby Bukit Indah within the last year and a half. So, what good will the three new stations do?
OCPD South JB this morning trumpeted that the crime rate went down last week. Reason? Increased police presence. So the PDRM admits that more police presence helps to bring cime down? Then why didn’t they listened to the public who has been crying for increased police presence for years? Why try to close the gates only after the cows have bolted? Why take action only after people have been raped and murdered? I hope the PDRM realised that by thier own negligence and lackadaisical attitude, they have as good as having raped and commited those murders themselves.
#4 by HJ Angus on Saturday, 23 June 2007 - 10:44 am
In a way the knee-jerk reaction to the crime scene is a good sign in that it shows the government can still respond.
All we need to do now is to convince more sleeping Malaysians to wake up and stir other important issues. If citizens do not do their duty to keep politicians honest, we will get the government we deserve.
I think it was good that the peaceful candle vigil for Revathi was allowed to take place without incident.
I suggest more Malaysians can tell the government their feelings without a public demo.
http://malaysiawatch2.blogspot.com/2007/04/how-about-lighting-candle-for-malaysia.html
#5 by gana on Saturday, 23 June 2007 - 11:37 am
hope all the spendings (people’s money) will not waste like their white elephant projects
#6 by shortie kiasu on Saturday, 23 June 2007 - 1:05 pm
It is NOT always the number/quantity that counts, more so in the service industry, like the civil service, the biggest service provider in Malaysia, with staff of over a million; it is the QUALITY of service that they can provide, and to what extent these employees are willing to go that extra miles to ensure the client charter is complied and enforced.
It is such huge number of employees in the civil service, yet, there are more black sheeps than the hardworking, conscientious ones. More over due to herd influences in the huge organization, the probability/tendency of the good ones turning bad/black is high, as manifested in the civil service, in the past, now, and very likely the same will persist in the future.
The culture and attitudes of civil servants are hard to change, good values are hard to be imbued into their stupid/hard core brain.
#7 by smeagroo on Saturday, 23 June 2007 - 2:41 pm
400 police personnel in JB? As if in Klang valley we already hv sufficient police personnel working. FOr one, there is an acute shortage of police manning the roads during peak hours to catch motorists / motorcyclists who flout the laws blatantly. Everyday I can still see these fellas using the emergency lanes and motorcyclists using the highways. Where are the police? Oh, 7am. They are singing Negaraku and maybe lsitneing to some early morning ceramah.
#8 by HJ Angus on Saturday, 23 June 2007 - 2:55 pm
I was thinking that places like Klang Valley, Johor Bahru and Penang should probably have an air wing for the police that can swiftly deploy to fight criminals.
I know we have helicopters in the Armed Forces – do we have any for the police? If so, what are the helicopters used for?
Not just ferrying VVIPs I hope.
I think if 3 helicopters can be deployed to fight crime in each of the “hot” areas there will be a more dramatic effect on crime reduction.
The helicopters need not operate 24/7 perhaps 4 or 5 hours each day and covering designated areas and also on call for action.
To ensure proper maintanance, the staff must be well qualified or we will have more problems with choppers falling from the sky.
#9 by TruthEnquirer on Saturday, 23 June 2007 - 5:57 pm
The Parliamentary Caucus on Human Rights and Good Governance should know that to tackle “the worsening crime situation in the country particularly in the crime capitals like Johor Baru and Malaysia’s inclusion by the United States Government in “Tier 3†of the worst human trafficking offendersâ€Â, our country must first end the policies that bring these about. These are the policies that create rapid development and disparities of wealth, of the NEP, of bringing in a huge immigrant populace staying legal or illegal who have no roots in the country and ready to plunder it, of corruption amongst public officials and law enforcement agencies that connive with human trafficking.
If these policies that spawn crimes cannot be changed, because the fundamental ground rules of the Barisan N asional cannot change, then the only alternative remaining of tackling crime is to regress in our civilizational values and be barbaric.
The Parliamentary Caucus on Human Rights and Good Governance will have to contemplate the increase of deterrent value of chopping the hands of snatch thieves, the penis (castration) of rapists and decapitation of heads of robbers in public and to impale the heads on poles in the city centre for all to see like the Japanese Occupation forces did in World War II during which time, you lived long enough to remember, you could leave your front door open the whole day without theft and burglary. An Ounce of such brutal Deterrence Beats a Pound of “ additional 400 cops, 200 police vehicles and establishment of temporary police stations†and a ton of Victim Advocacy from civil society and opposition members.
Ultimately the Parliamentary Caucus on Human Rights and Good Governance confronts only these two choices : if the first is not feasible, then the second, and if the second not also acceptable, then, there is no solution to the worsening deterioration of the crime and human trafficking problem and it is a situation that has to be accepted.
This means that I don’t have much confidence in the beefing up of law enforcement agencies and personnel as a viable option between the two extremes.
#10 by DarkHorse on Sunday, 24 June 2007 - 4:09 am
Such verbosity is not necessary if the message is that there is no choice but to resort to the use of force if need be to bring about change – even if that means shedding innocent blood.
“…then the only alternative remaining of tackling crime is to regress in our civilizational values and be barbaric.” TruthEnquirer
#11 by DarkHorse on Sunday, 24 June 2007 - 4:12 am
“I think if 3 helicopters can be deployed to fight crime…”HJ Angus
Not if the criminals are also on board!
#12 by Winston on Sunday, 24 June 2007 - 7:40 am
The four hundred policemen recently posted to JB is another ploy to assuage the bad feelings of the people there.
It will give the people the “feel good” feeling.
Once the furore died down, you’ll see that the four hundred policemen have evaporated!
What naive suckers Malaysians are!
#13 by Bigjoe on Sunday, 24 June 2007 - 8:49 am
Raising productivity is a polite way of saying accountability.. Police work is a constant management system Rudy Guliani, former NY mayor, discussed this a great deal when he tackled the crime problem in NY when he took over. You can’t change the situation with just the carrot and not the stick to the problem.
I won’t believe anything will substantially change unless they show me how they are going to put a stick to the solution….
#14 by selvam79 on Sunday, 24 June 2007 - 8:53 am
Hope in future we didn’t see any of the patrol car just park outside mamak stall!!! Patrol mamak stall only every day….
#15 by mendela on Sunday, 24 June 2007 - 10:31 am
yellowkingdom said //I was told by a friend that he visited the Larkin police station recently. In the compound were some fifty brand new police patrol cars with the upholstery and beacons still bound in plastic.//
I guess I might know the answer. A friend of mine told me 2 weeks ago that due to Proton’s mountains of unsold cars, thousands of such cars were transformed into police patrol cars without the knowing of our top police department!
This issue had become a big joke among top Proton guys, top police department and other departments! Police Department did not place order at all to such new patrol cars but why all the brand new cars are coming into each police station? That is why all the brand new cars are lying there, there were no trainned policemen to use such cars since they were caught at a total surprise!
Sure it is a great way to clear Proton cars!
Guess next time you might discover a new Proton car delivers to your house without your knowing too!
#16 by mendela on Sunday, 24 June 2007 - 10:33 am
testing