Whenever public security problems were mentioned, there were always someone who claimed it a result of media hype and not the real situation. Not long ago, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Zinin accused the media of exaggerating the seriousness of crime, not reflecting the real situation and scaring foreign investors away. He even asked how many among the over 27 million of Malaysians have actually been robbed, and whether the rates were higher compared to those of foreign countries.

I may not be qualified to answer his question, as I really have no experience of being robbed. However, many of my friends, colleagues and relatives were victims of crimes. There were two fatal snatch theft cases in Johor Bahru in recent days, one involved a retired teacher and another involved a clerk. These victims and their families should be better qualified than I am to say that poor public security is not just an impression, but a real situation.

And now, there is another person who is qualified to say so, namely Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, whose home was robbed recently in broad daylight.

I am afraid that the sisters of Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar and Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin were qualified too, as their homes were broken in about a month ago, resulting in a loss of valuables worth more than RM30,000 for the former and about RM300,000 for the latter.

Of course, the public security in Malaysia is not the worst compared to some countries and it should be considered better than most countries. However, we should compare with better countries, instead of worse countries.

Even though without making a comparison, it is still necessary to make some improvements. Even if not achieving the ideal of not needing to worry even to leave our doors open at night, at least the police should show us its determination to curb crimes, as well as seriousness in dealing with each crime case. It should also show us that it will not take different attitudes in handling cases based on the identities and backgrounds of the victims.

The political situation is in an uncertain state after the general election. The people are impetuous and there is no significant improvement in the economy. It requires an empirical study to conclude whether the crime problem has turned worse. However, the number of serious crime cases seems to have increased recently.

Studies showed that economy and security problems are interrelated. When the economy turns bad, the crime rate increases and when the crime rate increases, the economy would be affected.

Kearney’s 2013 report released last month showed that Malaysia has fallen sharply to 25th position from 10th last year on the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index ranking, not only falling behind several ASEAN countries, like Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia, but also not doing as good as other developing countries, such as Poland, Chile and Argentina. The report pointed out that the Malaysian government would face a greater pressure in balancing the budget in the coming year as oil production would gradually reduce while the mining costs would soar. In addition, as a a government without the advantage of two-thirds majority, it would be difficult for the BN to make a deeper economic reform. There are uncertainty factors in politics.

Despite the report did not mention security problems, as Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (ACCCIM) president Datuk Lim Kok Cheong and Malaysia-China Chamber of Commerce (MCCC) president Datuk Bong Hon Liong said, public security affects investment. Public security environment is an important part of the investment environment and only a good public security environment can ensure smooth investment activities. Therefore, improving public security helps to improve the confidence of foreign investors. It is an undeniable fact, as well as a major expectation of the people!

By LIM MUN FAH
Translated by SOONG PHUI JEE
Sin Chew Daily

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