Roaring Forties

NST picture by Afendi Mohamed

May 10 – In a shocking graphic reminder of the rising crime rate,  the NST reported that Lee Hui Fun was found unconsious with at least four stab wounds at 9.40 a.m. in Cheras. Police believed that Ms. Lee was attacked on her way to work and her missing handbag prompted the police to suspect that it was the result of a robbery.

Ms. Lee was reported to be in stable condition in HUKM but remained unconsious. I do pray for her full recovery. It is really senseless for a person to be hurt for a handbag or any other reasons.

The graphic reminder spells the sad state of the ruling party who put all their efforts in curbing the opposition with the Sedition Acts and debates over nonsensical issues in the Parliament when issues of public concern remained unaddressed.

What the Rakyat wants is a concrete action plan in combating and reducing the crime rate, not political squabbling which does nothing but waste public funds.

How bad is the crime rate in Malaysia? The government recently released the official crime figures for 2007 and there appeared to be contracting reports from the local media.

The Star on 10 January 2008 reported (by Lourdes Charles) that the crime index increased by 7% last year but the number of violent crimes, especially armed robberies and robberies without firearms, dropped significantly.

The NST reported that Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the number of serious crimes increased by 13.36 per cent nationwide last year, with gang robbery without the use of firearms rising by more than 159 per cent.

Such contradicting reports leaves us wondering which report is more accurate. Logically, we could conclude that the NST report is more accurate as it is very unlikely that a certain type of crime could dropped significantly when the overall index is up.

However both English dailies failed to elaborate on the seriousness of the situation? There weren’t any comparison with previous statistics. How many men in the street would bother looking up the previous year’s figures?

Mr. Lim Kit Siang tried to show in his blog that the crime rate has shot up 45% since 2003 comparing the 2003 statistics of 156,315 cases with the 224,298 cases in 2007. The purpose of his comparison is merely to discredit Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Mr. Lim failed to give the full picture where the sharpest increases happened during the last 2 years. It was also important to note that we experienced similar sharp increases in 1996 and 1997.

I think a more accurate picture of the overall situation is Malaysia is to go back to 1991 where the crime index was below 70,000 cases. ACP Amar Singh Sidhu’s paper on the rate of crime which was published in the Journal of the Kuala Lumpur Royal Malaysia Police College, No 2, 2005 gives us a clearer picture of the historical year to year increase in the crime rate. From his paper, we could conclude that the crime rate in Malaysia has worsen more than 300% since 1991.

The following graph which has been would give a better picture of the rising crime rate in Malaysia.

To sum the on the current crime rate, I think it is best to describe from last year’s statistics of 588 murder cases and 3,177 rape cases that;

Every day, more than one person was murdered (1.6 per day)

Every day, more than eight women were raped (8.7 per day)

Will it be any different one year from now? Unless there is :-

A real fundamental change in the running of the police force

An overall revamp of the immigration policy.

An overhaul of the anti-corruption agency.

I don’t see it to be any different, one year from now.

We have actually heard this same old story before. One year ago, The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili on 31 Jan 2007, expressed the government’s concern when the crime index increased to 198,622 cases from 171,604 cases in 2005. After such alarming figures in 2006, what has the government done? The crimes cases shot up to 224,298 cases in 2007 despite the concerns voiced. 

Will 2008 proved to be different?

Will money spent on new CCTVs and new police training centres in Bentong and Langkawi help? We can buy the latest technology in CCTV or build the biggest training centre in the world but if there is no change in overall running of the police force, I don’t have much optimism for 2008.

May and I lived in Manila in the early nineties where the most appalling shock for us was when we read in the local Philippine papers about a serious crime against an individual (murder, kidnap or rape) happening almost every day. It was shocking for us back then, because we would have only one or two similar reports per week back home in Malaysia. We figured that statistically it worked out to be about right because at that point in time, we had a 22 million population versus Philippines’ 70 million.

Today there seemed to be a lot of publicity about worsening crime rate in Malaysia. Just how bad it is?! I recall the police releasing some figures some time back show how good they were at solving the cases but what is the actual situation?

So I decided to summarise the total reported crimes in our local media during the month November.  

Bingo!! We have hit the one major crime a day mark

For the month of November 2007, I managed to record a total of 22 murders, 7 sex offences and 1 kidnapping. I have also included two high profile assault cases in my list cases even-though there are many cases which are not reported simply because there were no deaths involved.

I never imagine what I experienced in the Philippines back in the early nineties to catch up with us here. What is the police’s explanation for this? Our population has not grown to 70 million but yet we are experience the frequency of a nation of 70 million. Our crime rate has increased 3 times or 300% since early 1990s but our population is only 3 million more or about 13% higher.

Philippines has 85 million population today but their crime rate definitely has not increased 300%. Frankly, I feel safer walking in Manila, Bangkok, Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City at the night than I do in Johor Baru or Kuala Lumpur. I even walked in Jakarta recently and I was a bit apprehensive when I was there due the horror stories we get of the foreign workers here. To my surprise, the people were friendly and the streets were relatively safe.

Our police had showed what they could do with the road blocks and the riot police during the recent Bersih and Hindraf marches. If they could put the same emphasis towards fighting crime, I am sure we can see a significant drop in the crime rate.

I end this blog with my summary of all the reported cases in November 2007.

Case 1  - Kuala Lumpur  - Nine-year-old Preeshena Varshiny was raped, sodomised and murdered before being pushed off the balcony at the posh Casa Mila Tower condominium in Selayang (1 Nov 2007)

Case 2 – Kuala Lumpur – The semi-nude body of Teo Bee Ying, 22, from Batu Caves was found in a five-star hotel room in Jalan Ipoh. (1 Nov 2007)

Case 3 – Menglembu, Perak -  Ma Renjie, 49, was gunned down at his steel factory in Chandan Raya Industrial Park, Menglembu, Perak (2 Nov 2007)

Case 4 – Paka, Terengganu – Two 14-year-old twin brothers lured a 7-year-old to a deserted area in Paka and sexually abused her. The Form Two suspects had offered the Year One girl with a lollipop on Thursday evening while she was on her way home. (2 Nov 2007)

Case 5 – Kluang, Johor – the charred bodies of B. Khosla Devi, 36,and Keerthisha, 3, were found in a car after firemen put out the blaze. (2 Nov 2007)

Case 6 – Kota Kinabalu, Sabah – Lahad Datu district police are investigating a report by a clerk in the east coast of Sabah alleging that she was raped by her boss who is a senior politician.  (3 Nov 2007)

Case 7 - Kuala Lumpur – A 50-year-old Singaporean woman Mahani Abdullah, was found naked with multiple stab wounds on her head, body and feet in the Bangsar Indah condominium in Lorong Maarof.  (4 Nov 2007)

Case 8 – Penang – Roslan Abdul Rahim, a 37-year-old transvestite, was found strangled in his Jalan Sungai flat. (7 Nov 2007)

Case 9 – Tawau, Sabah  - Police have detained a primary school teacher in the east coast Tawau district after his wife lodged a report claiming that he had sodomised one of the pupils there.  (7 Nov 2007)

Case 10 – Petaling Jaya, Selangor – A cleaner caught a rapist literally with his pants down while he was sexually assaulting a five-year-old girl at the Intan Baiduri flats. (9 Nov 2007)

Case 11 – Penang – Police is on a manhunt for a Vietnamese man who robbed and raped a 19-year-old Vietnamese woman at a hostel in Relau. (11 Nov 2007)

Case 12 – Kuala Lumpur -  A 37-year-old remisier and her three-year-old son were found murdered in their fourth floor apartment in Sri Manja Courts in Jalan Klang Lama. (12 Nov 2007)

Case 13 – Johor Baru, Johor -  Police have arrested a 35-year-old labourer for allegedly raping his 16-year-old daughter at their home in Bandar Seri Alam here.  (12 Nov 2007)

Case 14 – Kuala Lumpur – A 35-year-old woman who was found dead inside a women’s toilet in Plaza Warisan in Jalan Tun H.S. Lee. (14 Nov 2007)

Case 15 – Penang – A divorcee Chooi Kwi Chun, 56, was doused with petrol and burnt alive barely 30m from her flat in Rifle Range here.  (14 Nov 2007)

Case 16 – Muar, Johor – An 11-year-old girl Lim Kae Yin was attacked by a male stranger attacked with a hammer while she was on her way to school. (16 Nov 2007)

Case 17 – Jinjang, Selangor – A couple identified as Maunfan Moonsupha, 41, from Thailand and Hoang Van Dam, 25 from Vietnam were stabbed and slashed to death on their way to work at Jalan Samarahan off Jalan Temple, Jinjang   (17 Nov 2007)

Case 18 – Subang Jaya, Selangor – The body of a man, believed to be a murder victim, was left in a drain in Jalan 1/3, Puchong Industrial Park with the mouth taped, limbs tied with string and  wrapped in a layer of sponge.  (20 Nov 2007)

Case 19 – Kota Kinabalu, Sabah – Chan Yen Khiong, 47 was shot dead in his home by two gunmen after they tied up his wife and maid during an “execution style” murder in Taman Donggonggon housing area at 1pm. (20 Nov 2007)

Case 20 – Cheras, Kuala Lumpur – Malaysian Angkasawan Mej Dr Faiz Khaleed sustained injuries in a robbery after two parang-wielding men attacked him and a friend outside his house in Taman Mawar. (20 Nov 2007)

Case 21 – Baling, Kedah – The bodies of two men identified as that of Tham Khoy Leong, 55 from Cheras and Chin Foo Hung, 31, from Kulim, believed to be murder victims, were found in an oil palm estate near here.  (22 Nov 2007)

Case 22 – Penang – The body of S. Subaletchumi was found sprawled in the open space on the third floor of Gat Lebuh Macallum at 12.30am moments after neighbours heard a commotion in her unit. (24 Nov 2007)

Case 23 – Ipoh, Perak – Ng Kim Yong was found with several stab wounds to her chest and lying in a pool of blood at the scene. in her mother’s house in Dataran Pengkalan Barat 4, Taman Temara.  (25 Nov 2007)

Case 24 – Penang – Wong Nyik Yon, 46 was stabbed 8 times in the chest at a budget hotel on Jalan Datuk Keramat. (27 Nov 2007)

Case 25 – Glenmarie, Selangor – A 25-year-old woman was kidnapped from a car park in Glenmarie and the victim was released by her captors after her family paid them RM3,000. (28 Nov 2007)

Case 26 – Seri Petaling, Selangor – Chan Ngan Peng 51 was found sprawled in a pool of blood on her bed at the 15th floor unit of the Sri Rasa condominium. She died of injuries to the head caused by a hard object.  (28 Nov 2007)

Case 27 – Penang – A 13-year-old boy was allegedly sodomized by four fellow inmates of a reform school in Paya Terubong at 8:30pm. The older boys, aged 16 and 17, held the victim down and stuff his mouth with a towel while they took turns to sodomize him.

Case 28 – Klang, Selangor – The body of a murdered 53-year-old man with 4 slash wounds was found dumped along KM2.7 of the Shahpadu Highway here early morning. (29 Nov 2007)

Case 29 – Pontian, Johor – Tan Poh Chew, 61 was found murdered at her home and robbed of several belongings in Teluk Kerang (29 Nov 2007)

Case 30 – Kelana Jaya, Selangor – M. Sandana Mary was waiting for a lift to her Taman Putra Permai Jaya, was shot dead at 9.30am. (30 Nov 2007)

Case 31 – SS19 Petaling Jaya, Selangor – Muhammad Ng Abdullah, 42, was found in the living room with slash wounds on the neck, face and hands.  (30 Nov 2007)

Case 32 – Kota Kinabalu, Sabah – Azlan Datuk Amir Kahar, 24, was taken to the Queen Elizabeth hospital with multiple wounds in Kota Kinabalu and doctors pronounced him dead upon arrival. (30 Nov 2007)