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Press Statement

by Lim Guan Eng

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(Petaling Jaya, Monday): Abaraham Lincoln famously described democracy in America as a government “of the people, by the people for the people”. PPP President Datuk M. Kayveas’ portrayal of BN as a coalition “of the few, by the few, for the few” not only depicts the state of BN but also the state of crime, economy and corruption in Malaysia.

Protection from crime should be accorded to all and not of the few. Good governance must ensure four basic right of security – to live, work, study and play in a safe and secure environment. But rampant crime, rising by 5.1% for the first six months of this year, has made these four basic rights of security non-existent and caused many families, especially women and children to live in fear and suffer in silence.

The police’s failure has resulted in a deteriorating crime situation in Malaysia that continues to shock Malaysians with the audacity of criminals to even break into the homes of former Inspector-General of Police Tun Hanif Omar and Tan Sri Norian Mai. Until today those robbers involved in the murder of ex-Penang CPO and ex-Bukit Bendera Member of Parliament Datuk Albert Mah in his home in Petaling Jaya in February this year have still not been caught.

Tan Sri Musa Hasan should resign as IGP if he cannot reduce rapes, where nearly 9 women get raped everyday in Malaysia, by 50% over the next 6 months

If former IGPs’ homes are not safe, how can the homes of ordinary citizens be safe? What is more worrying is the increased incidence of rape. In the first seven months of this year, there were 1,814 cases of rape as compared to 1,362 for the corresponding period last year – an increase of 33%.

This works out to 8.6 cases of rape per day in the first seven months of this year as compared to four cases a day in 2003 and 6.7 cases a day in 2006 – another shocking index of the worsening crime and fear-of-crime situation in the country, bearing in mind that unreported rapes are 5 times more than reported cases.

In other words nearly 9 women are raped everyday in Malaysia – an unacceptable statistic for a civilized and caring nation that is both horrifying and repugnant when 12 year old schoolgirls taking the bus to school in Johor gets raped. Malaysians are sick and tired of reading news headlines of young girls being raped, mutilated and killed.

The police must give priority to reducing rapes by at least 50% for the next six months, failing which not only the IGP Tan Sri Musa Hassan should resign but even Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah.Ahmad Badawi and his deputy Internal Security Minister cannot avoid personal responsibility. Otherwise protection of women in Malaysia is only for the few who are wives, daughters and sisters of BN leaders.

The country’s economy is enjoyed and controlled by the few. The government is indifferent to the effects of inflation and rising prices on the poor and middle-class. The refusal to share Petronas oil profits with Malaysians is unacceptable when the government can share such oil profits to the rich by giving gas subsidies to rich companies such as the Independent Power Producers (IPPs).

Last year alone, Petronas gave RM 6.7 billion to the IPPs. There is no logic why IPPs should enjoy these subsidies to further enlarge their already huge profits. The time has come to allow ordinary Malaysians and not just the few to share in Petronas profits. Giving every working Malaysian earning less than RM 3,000 per month an oil bonus of RM 3,000 would help to mitigate the financial burden of rising prices on ordinary families.

There is no reason why the government refuses to do so when Petronas can afford the RM 27-30 billion cost. Why Malaysians can not benefit directly from oil revenues when Malaysia is an oil exporter and an oil importer like Singapore without a single drop of oil can afford to distribute S$2,500 every year to poor and middle-class families?

Is the government's refusal to share Petronas profits linked to their failure to check corruption? That the country’s wealth is for the few is best description of corruption in Malaysia which has the worst income inequality in South-East Asia. Even US financial house, Morgan Stanley estimated that Malaysia lost US$ 100 billion from corruption over the last two decades.

The Auditor-General’s Report that details abuses of public trust, criminal breach of trust, cheating, waste and corruption is a mere report when no action is taken against the culprits. From the small such as the National Youth Skills Institute (NYSI) buying 2 units of two-tonne car jack for RM 5,471 per unit when the market price is only RM 50 per unit; to the huge expected loss of RM 6.75 billion in the Defense Ministry following the purchase of 6 off-shore naval patrol vessels (OPVs) that were either delivered but not operational (2) or still not delivered (4).

Since Kayveas admits that BN is a coalition “of the few, by the few for the few”, there is no point for PPP to remain in BN. For PPP to still cling on to BN, shows that PPP is no different from BN in wanting to unfairly enjoy the benefits of power and wealth at the expense of 27 million ordinary Malaysians.