DAP Member of Parliament for Rasah and Negri Sembilan State Assemblyman for Lobak Anthony Loke, who is also DAPSY National chief, was the latest victim of crime when he was rudely awakened early this morning by five parang-wielding robbers who broke into his Seremban home and tied him up, along with his elderly parents.
The 4am incident took place after the robbers cut through the front door lock, and woke the occupants in the double-storey terrace house in Taman Yoon Chan, Seremban – hitherto quite crime-free but no more safe.
Recently, both the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein had made great play about the successful NKRA on crime reduction, claiming that there have been a drastic drop in the crime rate with improvement of the crime index since January this year.
However, up and down the country, ordinary Malaysians do not feel this dividend of fall of crime index in their daily lives as they do not feel comparatively safer in the streets, public places or privacy of their homes as compared to previous years as highlighted by the terrible ordeal which Loke and his parents went through early this morning. I call on the new Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar to seriously grapple with this new phenomenon in Malaysia where crime index falls but Malaysians feel even more unsafe in many areas.
I had invited public responses to the question: “Crime index down but do you feel safer?” on my twitter, facebook and blog, and the following are some of the responses:
Twitter:
Last Thursday, the new IGP unveiled his vision, the “4P” plan, for the police to deliver more efficient services to the public – proactive, protective, performance-oriented and people-oriented.
As a first step, he should prove this “4P” plan is meaningful to Malaysians, visitors, tourists and investors in ensuring a safer country to work, live and play where official announcements of falling crime index is greeted with public acclaim rather than public cynicism because there is no match between the fall in crime index as announced and the public feeling more safe from crime than before, whether for person or property.