OCT 30 — In his recent Budget 2010 speech, our Prime Minister announced that RM1 billion will be spent to help the police beef up their enforcement services. He targets a reduction of 20 per cent in snatch thefts and robberies by the end of 2010. The initial response to that proposal will of course be positive — crime levels have escalated to such alarming heights in Malaysia that any effort or initiative towards crime reduction and prevention will be warmly embraced.
But spending RM1 billion in order to achieve police excellence is by no means a “kacang putih” sum. That money will apparently be utilised, among other things, towards providing more mobile police stations in crime-prone hotspots, increasing crime-prevention campaigns and to create greater integration between the police with the community.
I suffered a snatch theft back in 1997, just as I was opening the front gate of my parents’ house. My father gave chase in his battered old Proton Saga, but the crooks were obviously more nimble on their kapcai and gave him the slip. That one experience traumatised me so much that until today, I get paranoid when I am anywhere that is within snatching distance of someone on a motorbike or in a car.
It’s been 12 years since that snatch theft I suffered, and the horrifying fact is that since then, the frequency and gravity of snatch theft crimes has been escalating rather than decreasing. In fact, the criminals are more daring now, carrying parangs so that if you refuse to let go of your handbag, they’ll slash your arm or face until you release it, or to teach you a lesson if you don’t! It is not uncommon to now hear of grievous hurt or even death resulting in the process.
Now we not only have to defend ourselves against snatch-thefts but also those car-window smashers on their motorbikes, who will smash our windscreens whilst our car is stationary at a traffic light, thrust their arm through the broken window to grab our handbag and then dart off on their kapcai, while we flail our arms in despair because we can’t give chase due to the stationary traffic.
Sometimes, there is divine intervention. Or poetic justice. Remember the two brothers in Shah Alam who died after crashing their motorbike as they tried to escape from the woman who gave chase after they smashed her Mercedes’ car window and stole her Louis Vuitton bag? But how often does that happen?
Many people I speak to will blame the increasing spate of crime on the foreigners, especially the Indonesians. Only they can commit such “hati kering” crimes, some have claimed. Next on the list will be a tie between the drug addicts, the majority of whom are probably Malay, and the Indian drunkards. The Chinese won’t get involved in these small-time crimes, apparently, as they will apply their business acumen to the bigger, more lucrative vices like money laundering, gambling, prostitution, drug trafficking and the illegal DVD trade.
But as a citizen, I honestly don’t care to know who’s committing what type of crime or what race or nationality he/she is. I’ll leave those demographics for the statisticians to pore over.
What I do care about, however, is the fact that crime has reached alarming levels in Malaysia and that the police have been unable to rein the menace in. Televised broadcasts of drug cartel busts, illegal nightclub raids and the confiscation of gambling machines are about the only solid proof we have as to the fact that the police are “actively” fighting crime.
But what about us — the ordinary, law-abiding citizens of Malaysia who go to work each day, pay our taxes, have a family to feed, and don’t indulge in the vices of gambling, drugs or prostitution? Why isn’t more being done to fight the heightening crime which comes in direct contact with the public? Who is looking out after our interests and the security of our families and properties?
Last I recall, it was supposed to be the Polis Di Raja Malaysia (PDRM), not the Myanmar or Nepalese security guards that’s costing us an arm and a leg to look after our neighbourhood.
How many times have we personally experienced or heard stories of the uncooperative police personnel at the police stations and beats, who move slower than the most placid of sloths in attending to our complaints? Or having been turned away by the police with statements like “Cik kena pergi ke Balai Polis XXX kerana kesalahan tersebut berlaku di bawah bidangkuasa balai polis tersebut” or “Inspektor keluar — tak tau bila dia balik. Datang balik esok atau lusa”.
The majority of people who go to a police station only do so because they have suffered a grievance. And in that harried mental state, is it not the duty of the attending police personnel to help alleviate the predicament? Not to listen half-heartedly to our accounts whilst swivelling on their chairs, fiddling with their mobile phones, chattering amongst themselves or stealing glances at the WWF wrestling video playing on a TV screen behind the counter. And when we finally get them to pay attention to our complaint and to get working on it, it isn’t uncommon to see this being done with a scowl, as if we had stolen precious time from them.
Inefficiency is already bad enough, but what more when we know for a fact that the services police personnel provide to the public can often be selective. Political rallies (at least the ones the opposition tries to hold, anyway) bring out the full spectrum of efficient action from our police force, but when it comes to the daily crime which involves the regular citizen, our men in navy blue simply react too slowly.
I am sure many of us will have our own personal experiences in this regard, as do I. Over the years I have had my fair share of having to deal with the police, from my snatch theft incident, to the time when my car was broken into, when a burglar broke into my office and when I was involved in car accidents. It was common for me to receive apathetic responses from the attending police personnel like “Kita tak boleh buat apa-apa. Area tu memang tempat ‘hot’ untuk benda macam tu” or plain sluggishness and disinterest.
On their website, the PDRM’s Piagam Pelanggan (Client’s Charter) boldly declares that “Anda adalah pelanggan kami. Dalam melayani anda, kami akan sentiasa berusaha: … Menyediakan Pegawai Dan Anggota Polis Yang Terlatih, Berdisiplin Dan Cekap Dalam Memberi Perkhidmatan Yang Setia, Mesra Dan Berkesan”.
Those members of the police force who seem to continuously draw our ire with their sluggishness and inaction are either not aware of this oath or, more likely, are simply ignoring it.
Over and above increasing mobile police stations, the PDRM must ensure that the police personnel on duty will provide their fullest cooperation to the aggrieved parties. The police are there to serve the public, to maintain peace and to enforce security, not to come up with bureaucratic excuses whenever someone seeks to file a complaint or report.
More police personnel must be deployed on the ground, not just at the mobile police stations but to perhaps implement something similar to the British Bobby system. The rampancy with which crimes are being committed nowadays can certainly justify having police personnel stroll our streets. Wouldn’t the recruitment of a larger number of police personnel to act as our very own Bobbies have been a better utilisation of police funds rather than to have purchased Mitsubishi Evo cars costing millions of ringgit to serve as high-speed patrol cars?
So what I’m saying is this — if that hefty RM1 billion windfall to the police force will be substantially used towards retraining our police personnel to change their mindset in order to be more efficient, people-friendly and cooperative, and to build and equip the police force with the required intelligence and arsenal in order to fiercely wage war against the rising levels of crime and halt it in its tracks (not just by purchasing high-speed patrol cars), then it will be money well spent, as no price can be put on having the assurance of safety and security.
Anything short of that, however, will be a farce.
Time will be the best evidence, and if the Prime Minister’s targeted 20 per cent snatch thefts and robberies reduction rate is not met at the very latest by end 2010, then a whole billion ringgit would have drained down the gutter.
To pour salt to the wound, it also means that we will continue to have to fork out exorbitant sums on alarm systems, security guards and all types of security devices to protect ourselves, our families and our livelihoods, just for some peace of mind.
Now what did PDRM’s Client Charter say again?
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The answer is simple ... but it cannot be done because self interest overrides all.