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Media Statement

by Lim Kit Siang  
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(Petaling Jaya, Sunday) When the former and longest-serving Inspector-General of Police, Tun Hanif Omar, who held the top police post for two decades from June 1974 – January 1994, and his family are also afraid of their personal safety in the streets and public places, the police must  end its denial syndrome and immediately restore   police visibility in crime-prone “black areas” as core of policing.

Writing in his Sunday Star column, “Point of View” on “Crime and our quality of life”, Hanif narrated what has become commonplace in Malaysia – the prevalent fear about personal safety whether of oneself or one’s loved ones in the streets and  public places.

Hanif recounted how last Wednesday his wife and her sister had volunteered to drive him to the Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) fund-raising dinner at the Palace of Golden Horse featuring Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, when learning that he would be driving  himself because of their worry about the crime situation.

He refused his wife’s offer.  He wrote:

“What I didn’t say was that their presence and fear for their safety would crimp my appropriate reaction to any attempt on me. It had happened before. But when she offered me my handgun, I gladly took it. Yes, at my age, prudence is the better part of valour.”

He said that “almost as soon” as he had taken his seat, an MCPF exco member told him that “the crime sitrep (situation report) given by the police at the last MCPF Exco meeting showed that certain categories of crime had increased between 20% and 60%, particularly group crimes”.  

In his column, Hanif referred to the serious rise in violent crimes with one snatch robbery occurring every hour.

It would appear that the Royal Police Commission, of which Hanif was Deputy Chairman, had been a waste of time and resources as its most important recommendations had been ignored although more than a year had passed since the submission of its report to the Yang di Pertuan Agong and the Prime Minister.

The two most important of the 125 recommendations of the Royal Police Commission are:

• Make crime reduction priority No 1 for PDRM, together with eradication of corruption and compliance with prescribed laws and human rights.

• Establish an independent oversight mechanism – the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should present a White Paper in Parliament when it reconvenes on August 21 to give a progress report on the implementation of the Royal Police Commission’s 125 recommendations – particularly on the question of the IPCMC and what the government and police are doing to reduce crime and abolish the fear of crime of Malaysians.

(13/08/2006)