by Gobind Singh Deo

Former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Musa Hassan has put the Najib administration to great embarrassment by openly accusing the authorities of hiding facts from the public over the country’s crime rate.

Coming from an officer who had served in the police force for 41 years, this claim should not be taken lightly. In fact, it is a most scandalous and serious accusation to make.

Musa’s claim that the government is hiding something from the public strikes at the very heart of the ongoing controversy as to whether or not crime rates have dropped.

With daily cases of theft, kidnapping, robbery, and crime being reported by the media, the public are naturally sceptical of statistics that demonstrate a drop in crime.

Malaysians are entitled to an explanation over this issue that affects every man, woman and child. Dato Seri Najib must tell us: Is what Musa saying true? If so, why have we been taken for a ride? What possible reason would the former IGP have for fabricating accusations about rising crime?

Musa was further quoted as saying ‘there is no need to mask crime figures’. This, again, is a most serious allegation. Is this true?

MP for Serdang Teo Nie Ching was the victim of a car smash-and-grab crime recently. Another “isolated incident”?

If it is true, then the statement from PEMANDU Chief Dato Seri Idris Jala that crime rates have dropped and that the media ought to be blamed for over-sensationalizing isolated criminal incidents cannot be correct.

This actually makes worse an already difficult situation as not only do we have a failure on part of the government to address the problems arising, but we also have statistics that are wrong and the government efficiency unit is somewhat blindly endorsing it.

The credibility of the government’s transformation plan vehicle is now seriously in question. The government cannot sit back and remain quiet regarding Musa’s allegations.

Apart from Musa, we also have Selangor Deputy chief of Police, Datuk A. Thaiveegan acknowledging a spike in crime statistics saying that the repeal of the Emergency Ordinance may have caused the surge.

The question then is this. What did the Home Ministry do to deal with this probability when the repeal of the Ordinance was proposed?

The Ministry, through the police have the figures and intelligence reports. They ought to have known what would happen if the Ordinance were repealed and steps ought to have been taken so as to ensure safeguards were first put in place.

We seem to have statistics saying one thing and the police saying another. Which is which?

Perhaps the government should consider accepting the proposal by Musa to appoint an independent third party to review the findings of PEMANDU, and re-examine the country’s crime rate.

All in all, it boils down to the fact that the assurances and reassurances given to us by the government that crime is under check are not altogether true. This is totally unacceptable.

Do we now have an alarming concern for the security of our people? Are we not at the doorsteps of a national scale security crisis?

As Member of Parliament, I demand that the government reveal in public in full the steps it had taken to deal such an eventuality. Let the government tell us what it proposes to do to curb the problem before it gets beyond control. -The Rocket