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Memorandum
by Lau Weng San  
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9^th February 2007

Y. Bhg. Tuan Haji Mohamad Roslan Bin Sakiman,                        

Datuk Bandar,

Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya,

46400, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Y. Bhg. Datuk Bandar,

A comprehensive Crime Prevention Action Plan for PJ must be in place to prevent PJ from becoming a criminal city

In view of the increasingly serious crime rate in Petaling Jaya, we would like to suggest to MBPJ as a local government to spearhead the drafting of a comprehensive Crime Prevention Action Plan for Petaling Jaya is urgently needed to prevent PJ from becoming a criminal city.

It was revealed by the Police on 28th January 2007 claimed that crime index in Petaling Jaya rose 22.6%, an alarming rate which not only surpassed Selangor’s 14.3% but also national average of 15.7% last year.

The increment of crime index by 22.6% last year as compared to 2005, a percentage even higher than the state and national level clearly shows that PJ is heading to be a city of crime.

There have been efforts from various parties and stakeholders in PJ, i.e. political parties, residents associations, rukun tetangga, business communities, enforcement units like Police Force, City Hall and other government agencies like RELA to fight crime but these efforts, if left uncoordinated, will not be optimized to fight crime in PJ.

The 22.6% increase in crime index in PJ is an alarming signal that it shows that police efforts to fight crime have not achieved any success. Several dialogues between the police and the residents held by local elected representatives have not been very effective in reducing crime rate in the local level. In fact, the situation has been worsening for the past two to three years.

Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Musa Hassan had even made a commitment to the public to fight crime especially the 3 priority areas of snatch thefts, armed robberies and drug trafficking. He had even attended a dialogue with PJ residents last year but unfortunately nothing effective took place after the dialogue to enhance social security in PJ.

However, the ratio of 1 policeman for every 5,500 citizens in PJ is a ratio too high from international standard of 1 to 250 citizens.

Therefore, a Crime Prevention Committee of Petaling Jaya must be formed with the initiatives from various government authorities i.e. Petaling Jaya City Hall, which would be the best body to serve as a coordination unit among various stake holders in running the Committee and drafting of the Crime Prevention Plan.

This committee shall work as a working committee whose membership encompasses various stakeholders in PJ to formulate a long-term crime prevention action plan.

The Future of “SS1 Community Hall”

The issue was brought up in 2003 when the construction of a Community Hall in SS1 came to an abrupt end when the then Petaling Jaya Municipal Council (MPPJ) spent about RM4 million to construct the structure on a piece of land which is not owned by the Council.

It has been three years already since the sudden stop of the construction works and we would like to ask if the City Hall plans to move forward to acquire the land under Ninth Malaysia Plan.

Checks were carried out and the Land Office confirmed that the land belongs to SPPK. So, RM4 million of the people's money has gone down the drain, and word has it that the council is now trying to include an allocation of RM8 million in the Ninth Malaysia Plan to acquire the land.

We hope that the Mayor can enlighten us on the future of this structure as we do not wish to see another eyesore as such to be erected in PJ while the community hall, if completed, will be a good venue to serve the benefit of the people.

Thank you.