Media statement by DAP Selangor Secretary Lau Weng San on 11th January 2007 in Petaling Jaya:

Selangor Police Contingents should buck up to fight rising crime in Selangor!

After the infamous Nurin Jazrin Jazimin incident last year, another girl has gone missing when five-year-old victim Sharlinie Mohd Nashar disappeared while playing about 200m from her house in Taman Dato Harun, Petaling Jaya on 9th January 2008, in which the police believed that she was abducted by stranger.

Such case is not new to Malaysians or Selangorians as the country was shocked by the abduction of 8-year-old Nurin Jazrin Jazimin last year.

Unless something is to be done by Selangor Police Contingents, else we will continue to witness series of young-girl abductions in Selangor. In fact, the latest crime statistic released by Bukit Aman Police Headquarters tells how serious is crime rate in Selangor.

Bukit Aman Police headquarters had on Tuesday announced the latest crime index of Malaysia for year 2007 and Selangor recorded a hike of 21.86 percent in serious crime, which was also the fourth highest in the country in 2007, signifying worrying trend that the people can no longer feel safe inside and outside their homes.

If the statistic is compared with Kuala Lumpur which is located in the centre of Selangor, one will ask why crime rate in Selangor has gone up so high compared to our neighbour in Kuala Lumpur.

In 2007, out of a total of about 50,000 violent crimes in Malaysia, about 15,000 cases happened in Selangor and this is about 30% of the total number. A year before that, the percentage was only 28%, signifying worrying trend and more and more violent crimes concentrated in Selangor, which was self-proclaimed by the Selangor state government as a developed state over the past two years.

Although Kuala Lumpur and Selangor are both located in the heart land of Klang Valley, violent crime rate in Kuala Lumpur has only increased by 1.33% from 7,539 cases in 2006 to 7639 cases in 2007. It is mind-bloggling given the fact that there can be such a huge gap when both states are considered highly urbanized.

I hope Inspector General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Musa Hassan can pay personal attention to the high crime rate in Selangor and order his colleagues in the Selangor Police Contingents to buck up in order to return a safe living environment to fellow Selangorians.

---

* Lau Weng San, DAP Selangor Secretary