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Parliament should pay tribute to Rosli Mohd Said as its first item of business on Monday, followed by an all-party motion to establish a Rosli Award to honour  members of public for their contribution to roll back the crime wave
 


Media Statement
by Lim Kit Siang

(Petaling Jaya, Thursday): Four news  items today should ban beyond any shadow of doubt about the gravity of the double rise in the crime rate and the fear of crime among Malaysians, who have lost the fundamental rights of personal safety and community security, with  Malaysians no longer feel safe whether for themselves or their loved ones in the streets, public places or even in the privacy of their homes. 

These four items are: 

  • The report that Maybank officer, Rashidan Mat Aris, 33, of Taman Desa Jaya, Kepong has not regained consciousness after suffering serious head injuries in a motor-cycle snatch theft incident near his home on Sunday evening – after the crime of snatch-theft had claimed three lives in five weeks, Chin Wai Fung, 38 (KL) on  May 22; Chong Fee Cheng, 37 (JB) on June 12 and Rosli Mohd Saad, 36, (KL) on June 29.
  • A plainclothes policewoman in Malacca who fell victim yesterday  to two motor-cycle snatch thiefs while on her way home after work, and lost RM1,900 and jewellery worth RM40,000 belonging to her family members.
  • The complaint by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia that “of late, embassy officials worked until late nights to help the Saudi snatch theft victims”, and that in the past four years the embassy had received more than 50 complaints from Saudi snatch theft victims mostly in the Bukit Bintang area and that the police had not solved even one case so far.
  • The travel advisory issued by the Chinese foreign ministry warning its citizens to be on guard against the crime when travelling in Malaysia.

The time has come for Parliament, the Cabinet, the Police and the civil society to take seriously the double rise in the crime rate and the fear of crime among Malaysians and for a restoration of Malaysia to the pre-1990s where Malaysia was a comparatively safe country for citizens and tourists, to the extent that the nation’s leaders can publicly mock and decry the serious crime situation in Western capitals like London and New York. 

As a first step in a new national resolve to restore Malaysia to the pre-1990s, when Malaysians enjoyed a good  Public Safety Index with  no fear of crime haunting Malaysians in the streets, public places or the privacy of their homes, Parliament should pay tribute to Rosli Mohd Said as its first item of business when it reconvenes  on Monday, followed by an all-party motion to establish a Rosli Award to honour  members of the public for their contribution to roll back the crime wave. 

Rosli, a van driver, was killed when he tried to apprehend a snatch thief in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday. 

(1/7/2004)


* Lim Kit Siang, Parliamentary Opposition Leader, Member of Parliament for Ipoh Timor & DAP National Chairman