Rising crime rate cause for worry

It is a fallacy to paint a beautiful picture that everything is perfect here in Malaysia with 100% full employment as if it is Utopia.

COMMENT

It is now obvious that Klang Valley is not a safe place anymore. Daily we are reading about or hearing news of crimes being committed on a regular basis. Revenge shootings, killings, murders, rapes, robberies, burglaries, snatch thefts, bank heists, jewellery heists – all these have been making the headlines the past few years.

The situation has no doubt gotten worse this year. There seems to be a worrying trend of a culture of crime permeating throughout the nation now. Drastic steps must therefore be taken to curb crime and one of it must be to increase police patrols so that at least the presence of police will deter the criminals.

No doubt our police force is also hardpressed due to manpower shortage. Therefore the force has to be beefed-up but for now the case for the setting up of an auxiliary police force is gaining momentum among the rakyat.

Clearly something ought to be done immediately as the situation will progressively worsen if something is not done fast enough to arrest the decline because these days we have been reduced to living in fear of being robbed or mugged while carrying out our daily activities – a very worrying trend indeed.

Appended below are a few examples of the situations that we have to deal with currently:

1. It is better to cook at home rather than eating out late at night – one can save money and even save one’s own life.

2. It is better to avoid going out after 9 pm unless it is necessary for example an emergency situation of bringing someone to the hospital.

3. Everyone should avoid walking in dark lanes, alleys or taking short cuts behind people’s houses. One can get mugged or murdered without anyone knowing.

4. Always be aware of one’s surroundings.

5. If one does a lot of walking, it pays to carry a long umbrella and to carry cash and personal documents in one’s apparel.

6. Always look around when you are walking towards your car in the car park be it the basement or open-air car park.

7. Single women drivers should avoid putting their handbag on the passenger seat to avoid being attacked when stopping at the traffic-lights.

High level of unemployment

Although all of this columnist’s friends and all twenty of the people interviewed by this columnist opine that most of the crimes are committed by the jobless/unskilled foreigners here, this was not so as revealed by Deputy Home Minister, Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar who announced in Parliament on July 9, 2013 that only 1% of the crimes are committed by these foreigners.

Now this is certainly much more worse than what we have come to expect because it simply means that 99% of the crimes are committed by Malaysians!

In regard to street crime, all citizens must then play their part by being the eyes and ears of the police by being careful, alert and vigilant at all times.

As 99% of the crimes are committed by Malaysians, there must be something wrong somewhere.

A friend of this columnist who has retired from full-time employment but is currently working part-time in a supermarket has mentioned that many employers in the non-office sector prefer to hire foreign workers due to lower wages being paid to these workers.

Said Peter Chong, “Therefore if the government reduces the intake of these foreign workers, our local employers will be forced to hire Malaysians and this will in turn benefit the locals and at the same time reduce the outflow of foreign exchange. It is win-win for the rakyat and the nation so why is this not being done?”

With less jobless Malaysians around, there will certainly be a drop in the crime rate as many of those who indulge in street crime do so because of a lack of job opportunities.

The government should also try to help out by giving some cash aid to the jobless for a short duration of time so as to enable them to get back on their feet. These applies to those who are low-wage earners as they will have difficulty in making ends meet and paying their bills when they become unemployed.

There was some talk some time ago of a fund to be set up to help these people but this idea seems to have gone off the radar.

Crime is linked to unemployment. People will not simply commit crimes such as snatch theft and risk the danger of getting caught by the police or being beaten up by the public if they are not in such desperate need.

At the end of the day, the government must come up with a comprehensive plan to help those who are down-and-out. It is a fallacy to paint a beautiful picture that everything is perfect here in Malaysia with 100% full employment as if it is Utopia.

Let us stop being in denial and start waking up to the reality concerning the dire circumstances faced by our unemployed citizens. Then and only then can concrete action be taken to arrest the deteriorating situation. Being in denial will only endanger the lives of the ordinary citizens.

Selena Tay is a DAP member and a FMT columnist.