Nero fiddling while Rome burns

Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang revealed frightening crime stats. Ever since AAB became Internal Security Minister (as well as PM), the occurrences of crime have sky-rocketed.

malaysiakini which reported on the shocking revelation asked of us one scary question, a question that has been based, no not on the DAP figures, but on the latest police crime statistics: "Will you be the next victim?"

The bloody obvious conclusion? The crime situation in the country has gone out of control, and malaysiakini wryly stated that this is hardly a surprise to most Malaysians.

On the average, 6.7 women in the country are getting raped daily while 1.65 persons are murdered everyday, not to mention that recently police officers have been charged with the murder of a Mongolian model.

Hmmm, I wonder whether the murder stats included those who died in mysterious circumstances while under police detention.

The nation’s crime index recorded an almost 45% increase in crime cases from 2003 till last year.

Lim Kit Siang wanted to know whether AAB has been aware that since he became Internal Security Minister in October 2003, the crime cases have soared, not unlike the takeoff performance of an Airbus ACJ 319 VIP jet.

Probably not, as he has been in elegant ‘don’t know’ for a fair while - which makes me a 'liar' in AAB's eyes.

Lim said the public had high hopes of better law enforcement when AAB announced the establishment of the Royal Police Commission in 2003. But alas, their hopes were shot down like a B-52 over Hanoi during the height of the Vietnam War.

Lim said: “In fact, at the press conference after announcing the formation of the commission on Dec 29, 2003, Abdullah referred specifically to reducing crime rate from 167,173 cases in 2000 to 156,469 in 2001 and 149,042 in 2002.”

In 2006 it turned out to be 225,836.

Lim said that the worsening crime index appeared as though the royal commission’s 125 proposals to create an efficient and world-class police force to check crime has been a ‘total waste of time and public resource’.

He asked AAB to admit the failures of the internal security ministry and that the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), promised for eons by AAB, be raised again in Parliament in March.

Lim expressed surprise (?) in The New Straits Times (NST) publishing a total crime index figure that's vastly different from those published on the police official website. As mentioned the police figure for 2006 was 225,836 but the NST figure for the same periodwas 198,622. The NST did not state its source for the stats.

He asked whether somebody in the government has deliberately ameliorated the frightening crime figures in the country. If he doesn't watch it, AAB may call him a 'liar'.