Media conference statement by DAP Selangor Secretary Lau Weng San on 12th January 2007 in Petaling Jaya:

Selangor MB should call for a serious of “Good Cops, Safe Malaysia” Public Consultations!

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.

Yesterday in Johore Baru, Tenggaroh state assemblyman cum MIC Johore Deputy Chairman Datuk S. Krishnasamy was shot dead point blank by a gunman in a lift at the state MIC headquarters in Jalan Segget, Johore Baru.

This raise serious question of whether Johore Baru is still safe for Malaysians?

Four armed men wearing masks escaped with about RM1mil worth of jewellery, including diamonds, from a shop here. Two of them, armed with a pistol each, are believed to have fired more than six shots before fleeing with the loot on two motorcycles in the 10.30am incident yesterday.

Unless something drastic but constructive 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 crime rate in Selangor is.

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 centre 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-boggling 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.

In fact, crime rate in Malaysia has reached such an endemic situation that the cases of Sharlinie Nashar and Nurin Jazimin are stark reminders to the following three sad but salient points about Malaysia:

• The Malaysian society has become a very dangerous and unsafe place for adults, women and children the alarming 13.4% rise in crime rate for last year;

• Crime knows no race or religion as all Malaysians are potential victims of crime including violent crimes, regardless of their racial and religious backgrounds.

• The urgent need for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or political beliefs, to unite as one people to demand that the government to deliver “Good Cops, Safe Malaysia” to restore the twin fundamental rights to be free from crime and the fear of crime to Malaysians!

PJ Selatan MP Donald Lim said that he has started the “Di mana Sharlinie” campaign in his constituency and will distribute 10,000 leaflets on the campaign together with New Pantai Expressway.

What is disappointing is that the state government of Selangor does not seem to be in the forefront which it should be, not only in the earlier Nurin case, but also in the current Sharlinie case.

What can be done at least is for the state government to take the initiative and the lead to mobilize all its staffs serving in various municipalities to assist the police in tracking Sharlinie.

We must bear in mind that today is already 72 hours away from the day Sharlinie missing and she could have been out of Petaling Jaya but still in Selangor. What Donald Lim does could be of no effect if the leaflets are only distributed in Petaling Jaya only.

Selangor DAP strongly urged the Menteri Besar to call for a series of major public consultations on “Good Cops, Safe Malaysia” in various places in Selangor as to provide a channel for members of the public to convey their concern on crime rate to the authority.

---

* Lau Weng San, DAP Selangor Secretary