Media Statement by Lim Kit Siang in Sibu on Sunday, 9^th May 2010: 

Hishammuddin should apologise for his insult to Malaysian women on Mother’s Day blaming women’s “chattering” for exaggerating the crime problem and demonizing the police

What a shame! After the farce of the Selangor Chief Police Officer’s stolen official car, which was returned by the thief in panic after two days with an apology note for stealing the wrong car, a Deputy Minister has lost his car.

Will the Deputy Minister get his car back like the Selangor CPO with an “apology note” too left on the dashboard of the car abandoned on the roadside?

Most unlikely. I understand the Deputy Minister concerned is Senator A. Kohilan Pillai. He is unlikely to be as lucky as the Selangor CPO for the simple reason that he cannot strike fear among the thieves and handlers of stolen goods of “hell to pay” that the Selangor CPO could!

The twin episodes of the different fates of the two stolen cars of the two VIPs would make excellent butt of jokes and would definitely be good for laughs if not for the serious security crisis in the country which they highlighted.

If it is so easy for the official cars of the Selangor CPO (though “returned” with apology note in two days) and the Deputy Foreign Minister to be stolen, what is safe in the country?

When did Malaysia become so unsafe – not only to property but also to life and limb, that Malaysia’s endemic crime is regarded as an unfavourable factor causing decline of Malaysia’s international competitiveness and driving away foreign investments to Malaysia?

This is why I am utterly shocked by the speech of the Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein in London last night urging Malaysians “to defend and not to demonise the police force”.

Hishammuddin, as reported by Malaysian Insider, said that instead of constantly attacking the police, the public must support the force as it was one of the institutional pillars that formed the spine of the country.

Speaking to some 100 students at the Malaysian Students’ Department in London, Hishammuddin said:

“I want to assure everybody, that the morale of the police also has to be safeguarded and balanced. Clear demonisation does not help anybody.

“Malaysia is in transition. In times of change, there is always a tendency to demonise these institutions without basis, without study, discussion and understanding” referring to institutions such as law enforcement and the judiciary.

This is a completion distortion of the truth as there is no demonization of the police by any quarter.

For instance, my political record of 44 years in Parliament and outside can stand any public scrutiny that I have fully supported the police as an important and indispensable institution of any civilized nation as all Malaysians have the right to demand that any government must deliver on its most fundamental duties – a competent and efficient police force to keep the citizenry, both life, limb and property, safe from harm.

I have always supported and even advocated increase of wages and improvement of working conditions for the country’s policemen, but I will not tolerate any “black sheep” in the police, for they are the ones who are responsible for bringing the whole police institution into disrepute and the cause of the police crisis of confidence today.

Hishammuddin is also very sparing with the truth in trying to create the impression that Malaysia is in a transition and more time is needed for the people to see results.

The campaign for police reform did not start when Hishammuddin became Home Minister a year ago.

It went much further back. At the end of 2003, the then new Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi formed a Police Royal Commission to reform the police because it was already suffering from a crisis of confidence.

The Police Royal Commission came out with 125 reform recommendations to create an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police service focussed on three core functions – to keep crime low, to eradicate corruption and to uphold human rights.

However, the Barisan Nasional government refused to adopt the most important of these recommendations for police reform, i.e. the establishment of an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).

If an IPCMC had been established as recommended by the Police Royal Commission, 14-year-old Form III student from Shah Alam, Aminulrasyid Amzah would still be alive today and not fall victim to trigger-happy police shooting and killing some 100 metres from his Shah Alam house on April 26 at 2 am, whose only crime was underaged and unlicensed driving of his sister’s car to watch live football at the Shah Alam neighbourhood mamak stall with his friends.

I am also flabbergasted and outraged that Hishammuddin could be so irresponsible as to blame Malaysian women on Mother’s Day for the exaggeration of the endemic crime situation in the country.

Hishammuddin said in London that the level of street crimes in Malaysia was exaggerated by the “continuous chattering” that made it seem worse.

He said: “Most victims are women. What do women do? They go to the hairdressers… they chit-chat and suddenly it is everywhere and cause people to fear”.

Hishammuddin should apologise for his insult to Malayhsian women on Mother’s Day blaming women’s “chattering” for exaggerating the crime problem and demonizing the police.

In any event, what is Hishammuddin doing to London, when he should have cancelled his London trip to address the security crisis arising from the heinous police killing of Aminulrasyid?

*Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary Leader & MP for Ipoh Timor