The government should fight crime seriously not day-dream about resurrecting oppressive laws

I strongly object to the proposal by Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to re-enact new acts to replace the recently abolished Emergency Ordinance and the Internal Security Act (ISA). The Minister's justification for his proposal was the escalating crime rate.

It is odd that only late last year, former Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said that the high crime occurrences are merely public perception. This once again shows that the Barisan Nasional government is treating the people as fools with confusing information and is not serious in tackling the issue.

Zahid Hamidi's proposal proves that the government has utterly failed to address the issue of crime. Yet up to now, they are barking up the wrong tree by calling for the resurrection of an oppressive act which previously was often abused to bully political dissents.

The failure of the government has resulted in the people falling prey to crimes, living in fear, and the lives of our law enforcers are being endangered.

I therefore urge the government to take the following measures instead of day dreaming to bring back the oppressive laws:

  1. improve the existing legislations such as the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code to empower PDRM with relevant authority to deal with present day crimes;

  2. increase the efficiency of the police in handling crimes and not occupy them with spying political oppositions. When the government only allocate a mere 9% of PDRM human resources to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), it not only dampens police efficiency in crime-fighting but also endangers police officers in their task because of inadequate resources.

  3. curb corruption and increase the professionalism of PDRM through the implementation of an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) which functions not only as a disciplinary body to act upon delinquent police personnels but is also empowered to promote those with good performance so that promotion within the force is transparent and is based on merits instead of political intervention. Former Inspector General of Police Musa Hassan himself confessed that the government including Cabinet Ministers frequently intervened into the works of the police.

  4. implement just economic policies which will ensure the welfare of all levels of the society to curb social ills such as crimes. Economic development and the country's wealth should not only benefit cronies and the rich. Perhaps it is time for the government to take a leaf from the Pakatan Rakyat manifesto and implement policies such as the RM600 yearly women social security contribution, reduction of car and petrol prices, improve public transportation, RM1000 yearly senior citizens appreciation etc. Furthermore, the government should address the issue of "underemployment" where there is a mismatch between actual job and aspired job. For example, while the government flaunt a low national unemployment rate, we are facing a situation where people have jobs, but with a low pay rendering them unable to face the escalating cost of living.

Steven Sim Chee Keong MP for Bukit Mertajam