“War” between Internal Security Ministry and Police more warlike than “all-out war against crime” or earlier “all-out war against corruption” announced by Abdullah

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Media Statement        
by Lim Kit Siang  
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(Parliament, Thursday) : The “war” between the Internal Security Ministry and the Police is definitely more warlike than the “all-out war against crime” or the earlier “all-out war against corruption” announced by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.   

The “all-out wars” against crime and corruption were just empty rhetoric but the “war” between the Internal Security Ministry and the Police have already sent sparks flying all over the country. 

However, on a day when Malaysians are thoroughly disgusted and ashamed to read in the media of the RM200 million havoc at the grandiose Immigration Department headquarters at Putrajaya, where a burst pipe caused a torrent of thousands of litres of water flooding  seven storeys of the building, forcing its closure and the evacuation of over 1,000 people thronging the immigration counters and the 600 immigration officers, the people are not amused at all by the ugly spectacle of the “cat-and-dog” fight between Internal Security Ministry and the Police. 

Both are disgraceful testimony that public service  culture, standards and benchmarks have plummeted  drastically in the 41-month premiership of Abdullah, with the “First-World Infrastructure, Third-World Mentality” Malaysian malaise becoming even  more deeply-rooted and terminal instead of it being eradicated and replaced with a “First-World Infrastructure, First-World Mentality” mindset and ethos. 

Deputy Internal Security Minister, Datuk Johari Baharum is incensed that his figures about the phenomenal increase of the crime index, in particular in the Federal Territory, had been contradicted by the police. 

Johari had said that the crime index in Sentul district in Kuala Lumpur in the first three months of the year had soared by 90 per cent, with snatch thefts going up by 693.5 per cent. 

However, Federal CID director Datuk Christopher Wan Soo Kee had contradicted him, saying that the crime index for the first quarter in Sentul had increased by 10.1 per cent while snatch thefts had dropped by 36.6 per cent. 

How can the official crime statistics for the same period and locality between the Internal Security Ministry and the Police vary so widely, as to manifest a “heaven and earth” difference? 

Johari has made two serious allegations against the police –  firstly, that it had “manipulated the crime rate figures to confuse the public”; and secondly, that he “feared that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, may have also been given the wrong figures”.  

This is the latest example of the direct result of the  disastrous lack of leadership demonstrated by Abdullah although he is Prime Minister, Internal Security Minister and Finance Minister – to the extent that there is a public fall-out between the Deputy Internal Security Minister, who is the de facto Police Minister, with the Police! 

At a time when Malaysians are despairing at Abdullah’s failure to fully implement the recommendations of the Royal Police Commission, in particular to establish the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), to create an efficient, incorruptible, professional police service to end the unchecked  crime wave and to restore to Malaysians, visitors and foreign investors the right to be free from crime and the fear of crime, the public spat between Johari and the Police is most distressing and demoralizing to public confidence in the whole system of governance headed by Abdullah. 

Parliament and Malaysians do not want any cover-up but insist that the whole truth about the real picture about the crime situation should be fully made public. 

It is time that Abdullah end his “hands-off and mind-off” approach and attitude as Prime Minister, Internal Security Minister and Finance Minister, and he should come to Parliament on Monday to give a full ministerial statement about the real crime situation in the country, with particular reference to the latest crime index whether nation-wide or in the worst crime hotspots, as well as three other important issues, viz: 

• the cause for the public spat between the de facto Police Minister, his Deputy Internal Security Minister and the Police;

• the detailed strategy and objectives of the “all-out war against crime” which he announced only last week; and

• the real status of the implementation of the 125 recommendations of the Royal Police Commission and in particular, the establishment of IPCMC.

(12/4/2007)