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Media Statement        
by Lim Kit Siang  
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(Parliament, Friday): The public hearing of the Parliamentary Caucus on Human Rights and Good Governance in Johor Baru on Sunday at Tropical Inn at 2.30 p.m. will be an opportunity to assess whether the people of Johor Baru are satisfied with recent police actions to fight crime or whether more have to be done by the police to wipe out the high crime index and the fear of crime and end the situation where people only feel safe when they cross the causeway into Singapore. 

It has been asked why the Parliamentary Caucus on Human Rights and Good Governance is holding a public hearing at the Tropical Inn in JB on Sunday on “Fight Rising Crime”, as if crime has nothing to do with human rights. 

This is a great fallacy, for the fundamental right to be free from crime and to be safe and secure in the streets, public places and the privacy of the homes must rank as the first of all human rights, without which all other human rights have no meaning. The safety of its citizens must is also the acid test of effective government and good governance. 

The Parliamentary Caucus on Human Rights and Good Governance want to popularize the concept that Malaysians must be restored their two most fundamenal rights, to be free from crime and the fear of crime, which were unquestioned rights of all Malaysians in the first three decades of nationhood. 

In the past 10 to 15 years, law and order have started to break down in several areas in the country to the extent that some urban centres in Peninsular Malaysia acquired the notoriety as hot spots of crime, particularly JB, Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, Penang and  Ipoh. 

This trend has not been reversed or checked despite the establishment of the Royal Police Commission and its Report and 125 recommendations to create an efficient and professional world-class police service to control and reduce crime. 

The public hearings of the Parliamentary Caucus on Human Rights and Good Governance on “Fight Rising Crime” in JB, Petaling Jaya and Bukit Mertajam in the next week is not a police-bashing exercise but to create greater awareness among the police and public of the need for a joint effort to control and reduce crime to make our homeland and towns safe again not only for the residents, but also for tourists and investors.

(6/7/2007)