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ISMAIL YURDAKOK
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Malaysia Confronts a Growing Crime Problem: Kuala Lumpur, the largest city in Malaysia, was once considered one of Asias safest cities.
Now its fighting a rash of burglaries and other crimes.
By THOMAS FULLER
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia Malaysias population has tripled over the past four decades. Its
largest city, Kuala Lumpur, a place once so sparsely populated that it looked like a botanical
garden, has exploded into a cosmopolitan metropolis of shopping malls, luxury hotels and
sprawling suburbs.
But with modernity and urbanization came an unwanted corollary: a soaring crime rate that has
blighted Kuala Lumpur, previously considered one of Asias safest cities, and other urban areas across
Peninsular Malaysia. It is hard to find someone in Kuala Lumpur today who does not have a story
about a purse snatching, a burglary or worse. Whatever defense we put up is not enough, said
Chong Kon Wah, a British-trained engineer who was burglarized twice at his home in the Kuala
Lumpur suburbs and robbed once while in his car all within 10 days in August.
Residents in middle-class and wealthy neighborhoods have begun to gate their communities, often
without local government permission. And the demand for personal guards has soared, with the
number of certified security companies nationwide more than tripling over the past decade to 712
from 200, according to the Security Services Association of Malaysia, which trains guards. Last
month, the United States Embassy in Kuala Lumpur sent a warning to American citizens here:
Remember to carry your backpack or purse on the shoulder AWAY from the road to prevent having
it snatched by motorbikers.
The possible reasons for a higher crime rate are a matter of debate some say the countrys ethnicbased policies that favor majority Malays are partly to blame; others say the police force is corrupt
and ineffectual. Even the extent of the crime wave in this country of 29 million people is in question.
Despite the widely held perception of a sustained crime wave, the government says that after
doubling from 2000 to 2009, the number of reported cases of violent crime nationwide has declined
sharply since then. Government officials say they have achieved the drop by adding police officers on
the streets and security cameras and barriers along roads to deter thefts by people on motorbikes, as
well as by studying policing methods in cities like New York. But a series of high-profile crimes this
year including some against government officials or their relatives have led the authorities to
begin to acknowledge the depth of the problem. Since August, the police have arrested more than
11,000 people suspected of being gang members. And in a reversal of earlier changes meant to shed
some of the countrys authoritarian legacy, the government last month passed laws that would give
the police the authority to detain suspects without trial.
As worries rise, the opposition says the government is manipulating the statistics. Critics note that,
after years of providing the public with data on murders, rapes, thefts and other crimes, the
government has changed the way it presents crime statistics, focusing on what it calls INDEX
CRIMES rather than giving a detailed accounting. Tony Pua, an opposition member of Parliament,
said he had no confidence at all that the figures were accurate. THE MALAYSIAN
GOVERNMENT HAS ALSO STOPPED PROVIDING CRIME STATISTICS TO THE UNITED
NATIONS, according to Enrico Bisogno, the official responsible for compiling crime data at the
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. But in response to a request from The New York Times,
the Malaysian police provided detailed crime statistics that show the number of homicides over the
past 12 years has remained relatively unchanged at about 600 a year. The data also show wide swings
in some categories of crime, including a reduction in robberies using a firearm to 17 cases in 2012,
from 722 cases nationwide in 2000. Another category, gang robbery, fell to 110 cases in 2012, from a
high of 1,809 in 2010.
One crime that did show a steep rise was rape, with the number reported from 2000 to 2012 doubling
to 2,964 cases. Teh Yik Koon, a criminologist at the National Defense University of Malaysia, says it is
widely accepted that crime rates are higher than reported, and she says one problem is a sense of
hopelessness that the police can solve crimes. THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE NOT
REPORTING CRIMES., she said, BECAUSE THEY FEEL THERES NOTHING THE
POLICE CAN DO. In a country that has long relied on foreign visitors investors and tourists
for a good share of its economic growth, Malaysias paternalistic government had consistently
minimized the crime problem.
If you try to make a fuss out of one or two cases, it will only worsen the situation and create a picture
that the country is not safe, Hishammuddin Hussein, who was home minister at the time, said last
year. But in the months since Mr. Hishammuddin made those comments, the string of high-profile
cases in Kuala Lumpur and other cities has brought crime to the top of the political agenda.
Close relatives of the deputy prime minister and the chief of POLICE WERE BURGLARIZED in
separate crimes last May. The former head of a local bank was killed in July, and a TOP
EXECUTIVE OF ONE OF THE COUNTRYS MOST SUCCESSFUL COMPANIES, AirAsia,
was killed during a robbery in August. When
opposition, he said the police should get the evidence and shoot first. Human rights groups say
they are alarmed by a number of recent cases of criminal suspects who died in police custody.
Critics of the governments approach say that amid what they call an obfuscation of crime statistics
and the sudden crackdown, any real discussion of the roots of Malaysias crime problem is being lost.
They blame not only a police force that they view as corrupt and ineffectual, but also income
inequality and the alienation of ethnic INDIANS who represent 7 percent of the countrys
population, yet, according to the police, MAKE UP TWO-THIRDS OF GANG MEMBERS. Some
suggest the government needs to modify the countrys seemingly inviolable preferential policies for
Malays, who receive scholarships, cheaper housing and government contracts as part of a policy
dating from the 1970s. Ahmad Ghazali Abu Hassan, a professor at the National Defense University of
Malaysia says the system of preferences for Malays should be modified to address inequality within
our society, without identifying race. Particularly in need of help, he said, were ethnic Indians. I still
believe that poverty is the root cause of this, he said.
As the debates continue, Malaysians have begun trying to protect themselves. Mr. Chong, the
engineer who was burglarized twice, helped pay for a guard booth and two security guards for his
neighborhood several years ago. Thieves stole the television inside the booth while the guards were
on patrol. We told the police, This is serious. THE THIEVES ARE EVERYWHERE, he said.
Something has to be done. A restaurant across from Kuala Lumpurs domestic airport hired an
armed security guard in May to deter would-be thieves after attacks on several restaurants in the
area. A lot of people think its a gimmick, said Terence Wong, the restaurants manager. Its too
expensive to be a gimmick. And my customers say they feel more secure.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/20/world/asia/soaring-crime-rate-takes-a-growing-malaysiaby-surprise.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0&hpw
16 April 2013
identity of the gunman." It is learnt that witnesses told police that the gunman was fair skinned and he came on a
motorcycle. Zazali urged those with information to come forward to assist in the investigations.
The incident was the second execution-style shooting here in the past week. On Friday, a 45-year-old operations
manager of a security company, also in Oakland Commercial Centre, was shot by two men on a motorcycle. The
victim James John, 45, was shot at close range when he stopped his car at a traffic-light junction in Taman Sri Labu.
The gunmen, both also wearing full-faced helmets, fired at least 10 rounds into the victim. Police said both incidents
were not related
Read more: Businessman shot dead in front of family - General - New Straits
Times http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/businessman-shot-dead-in-front-of-family-1.256386#ixzz2QbCPXwIP
VEHICLE
THEFT
ON
THE
RISE
APRIL
7,
2013
In the latest case, they hit a petrol station at Persiaran Kewajipan in USJ 18. The
thieves picked the lock of the glass door at the petrol station's convenience store
and entered the premises at 2.58am. They sprayed red paint on two closed-circuit
television (CCTV) cameras and turned two other cameras away from the ATM.
Another camera was left untouched. At 3.06am, the suspects entered the back room
and cut the power supply and telephone lines. It is believed that the suspects broke
open the ATM's safe using a welding torch, based on the burn marks on the door.
The suspects fled with four boxes containing RM225,000, along with 40 boxes of
Dunhill cigarettes. It is learnt that the bank had last filled the machine with
RM395,000 on Thursday morning. Before that, the machine had not been working
for two weeks. The theft was only noticed at 5am after a petrol station employee
arrived to open the premises. The station operates from 6am to midnight. District
police chief Assistant Commissioner Yahaya Ramli said police had checked on the
station three times yesterday, with the last visit at 1.50am.
"CCTV recordings, before it was tampered with, showed that at least two men were
involved," he said, adding that the cameras did not capture the vehicle used by the
thieves. The first thief wore a long-sleeved white shirt with gloves and ski mask
while the other one wore a dark-coloured long-sleeved shirt with a blue full-faced
helmet and gloves. On Thursday, five thieves took less than 15 minutes to cart away
an ATM containing RM230,000 from a bank in Putra Heights. However, Yahaya said
police believed that the two cases were committed by different groups. "The
suspects, as seen in the recordings from both cases, did not have the same body
shape and size," he said.
Read more: Thieves break open petrol station ATM - General - New Straits Times
http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/thieves-break-open-petrol-station-atm1.249968#ixzz2PkeCeGsb
ARMED MEN ROBBED GOLDSMITH OF RM 3.2 MILLION JEWELLERY
TEMERLOH: Four parang-wielding men took less than three minutes to scoop RM3.2
million worth of jewellery from a goldsmith outlet in Mentakab near here this
morning. In what is believed to be the biggest heist in Pahang, the masked suspects
stormed into the the premise shortly after it was opened for business at about
9.30am before emptying 24 trays of jewellery. They later fled in two waiting getaway
cars - a Toyota Camry and a Honda Accord. Temerloh district deputy police chief
Superintendent Zundin Mahmood said police had set up roadblocks at several exit
points to nab the suspects. The shop owner's son identified as 27-year-old Lo, said
he and his parents were at the entrance of the shop when four suspects wearing ski
masks and armed with parang alighted from two cars and ran towards them. He said
they forced them to open the shop and the safe and scoop up the valuables
including the latest collection his father had ordered recently for Hari Raya Aidilfitri
which was worth nearly half a million. He said they had been running the business
for over 20 years and it was their first robbery. On June 21, six men hit a goldsmith
outlet in Karak, Bentong before escaping with some RM400,000 worth of jewellery.
The suspects used a similar modus operandi where they waited for the shop to be
opened before forcing their way and emptying the shop.
Read more: Armed men robbed goldsmith of RM3.2 million jewellery - Latest - New
Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/latest/armed-men-robbed-goldsmith-of-rm3-2million-jewellery-1.321705?cache=03D163D03edding-pred-1.1176%2F
%3FpFpentwage63Dp%3A%2Fhe3D03Dn63Frea-rti3D19.3D163D03edding-pred1.1176%2F%3FpFpentwage63Dp%3A%2Fhe3D03Dn63Frea-rti3D19.111w5ii%2Fed1.1176%2F%2F2.2525%2F2.2525%2F1.33120%2F7.185538%3Fkey%3D
%2F7.185738%3Fkey%3DMalaysia#ixzz2ZOIRi4tw
KUALA LUMPUR: A Tan Sri shot dead one of four men who tried to rob a clinic in
Taman Pertama, Cheras here last night. The incident happened when the robbers,
armed with parang, entered Poliklinik Pertama at 9.50pm and ordered a doctor and
his three helpers to hand their valuables. Cheras police chief Assistant
Commissioner Mohan Singh said the group then turned onto several patients, who
were waiting for their turn for consultation, without realising that a businessman
who owns a pistol was among them. One of the robbers then pointed his parang
towards the Tan Sri, before he took out his gun and fired several shots. This had
caused all of the suspects to flee, before one of them fell about 30 metres away
from the clinic, he said. He said the suspect sustained several gunshot wounds, and
died at the scene. Read more: Tan Sri shoots dead 1 of 4 men who tried to rob clinic
- Latest - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/latest/tan-sri-shoots-dead-1-of-4men-who-tried-to-rob-clinic-1.313625?cache=03D163D03edding-pred-1.1176%2F
%3FpFpentwage63Dp%3A%2Fhe3D03Dn63F
%2F7.192944%2F7.219621#ixzz2YB9JiNWX
WHAT
WILL
30 June 2013
ORDINARY
CITIZENS
DO ?
HOUSE
KUALA LUMPUR: A minister's house was broken into by four men in Bukit
Damansara, here, yesterday. In the 5pm incident, the suspects were believed to
have entered the house by climbing up the side fence. City Criminal Investigation
Department chief Datuk Ku Chin Wah said the suspects gained access to the
premise through the front door which was unlocked. "At the time of the incident, the
minister's maid was in the kitchen and the rest of the family was out. "She went out
to start cleaning the hall. That was when she noticed the front door was open and
caught a glimpse of an unknown man," he said. Ku added that investigations
revealed that one of the thieves had rummaged through the master bedroom. "The
maid saw everything but couldn't do much due to fear for her life. The ordeal lasted
for less than 10 minutes. "The suspects made off with several branded watches and
laptops. The total losses have yet to be ascertained," he said.
Read more: Four men break into minister's house - Latest - New Straits Times
http://www.nst.com.my/latest/four-men-break-into-minister-s-house1.310402#ixzz2XlKepMhE
HUDUD (HEAVY ISLAMIC CRIMINAL LAWS) MUST BE
HUDUD
2 July 2013
APPLIED
THESE CRIMES
TO FIGHT CRIME
cent, the public perception towards the force (65 per cent) and increase the number
of cases being prosecuted (35 per cent)," he said at the launching of the department
at the Sungai Siput district police headquarters, here, yesterday.
Datuk Ayub Yaakob heads the department. Khalid said the department would also
identify new initiatives to prevent crime. "We have identified university students as
our target for the awareness programmes. All the universities will be adopted by all
the police at the federal level. This is to educate and create awareness about crime
at the university level." Khalid said with JPPJ, the functions of the Criminal
Investigation Department (JSJ) would not be affected. JSJ, he said, would focus on the
investigation of crime cases while the JPPJ had been tasked with preventing and
eradicating all types of crime, including those related to drugs and commercial
offences. Khalid said one of JPPJ's initiatives was to recommend that the government
re-introduce the use of the electronic-plate (e-plate) system for vehicles in the
country. He said the e-plate system, which uses radio frequency identification tags,
would help in eradicating vehicle thefts and registration forgeries. Earlier, the
Regent of Perak Raja Dr Nazrin Shah said the police force should take steps to
ensure it would not face the crisis experienced by police forces in other countries.
"As long as the police force carries out its responsibilities based on the rule of law,
does not condone any misconduct, is non-partisan, impartial and unbiased, the
image of the police and the people's confidence towards the force will continue to be
maintained."
In addition to performing the duties of security intelligence, crime prevention, law
enforcement and ensuring public order, he said it was necessary to focus on efforts
to develop a positive and convincing image. The Sungai Siput police district
headquarters, built at a cost of RM100.9 million, became operational in June last
year. Regent of Perak Raja Dr Nazrin Shah firing a rifle presented to him by former
police sergeant Arthur Albert Walter, to open the new Sungai Siput district police
headquarters yesterday. Pic by Muhaizan Yahya
Read more: Six new measures to fight crime - General - New Straits Times
http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/six-new-measures-to-fight-crime-1.311444?
cache=03D163D03edding-pred-1.1176%3Fkey%3DMalaysia
%2F7.284859%2F7.290223#ixzz2XrRvmnzn
12 August 2013
ROBBERS
IPOH: A businessman, on his way to deposit RM50,000 in a bank here, was robbed
by four masked and armed men today. The incident happened in front of a row of
shops in Taman Medan, Bercham about noon. The 38-year-old victim managed to
run to safety, but failed to 'protect' his bag which contained the money. Ipoh district
police chief Assistant Commissioner Sum Chang Keong confirmed the incident. He
said investigation into the incident was underway.
Read more: Businessman loses RM50,000 to armed robbers - Latest - New Straits
Times http://www.nst.com.my/latest/businessman-loses-rm50-000-to-armed-
the man home to work on a cosplay project. She wanted to make a helmet for
a cosplay competition in December. "Usually, they would do it in a group as
other girls had also asked for the man's help to make their costumes, but that
day, he tricked my granddaughter into following him home alone." At
1.30pm, the suspect was brought to the mortuary by police for a physical
examination. Sources said the bite mark on the suspect was examined to see
whether they matched Yuk Tim's teeth. At 3.15pm, a Buddhist monk arrived
at the mortuary to lead prayers for Yuk Tim. With them was Yuk Tim's 10year-old sister, Ee Sing.
Three hours later, family members were called in to view Yuk Tim's body after
a post-mortem was concluded. Yee Ling came out wailing, and her exhusband, Ng Sai Kuan, 38, had to carry her, holding her close to console her.
There was not a dry eye among Yuk Tim's relatives.
Sources said pathologists had concluded Yuk Tim died from injuries sustained
when she was hit on the head. She had been hit at least three times with a
10kg dumbbell. The examination confirmed she had not been raped. Police
yesterday obtained a remand order to hold the suspect for seven days.
Senior court registrar Zalina Abdul Rani issued the order after the suspect
was brought to the magistrate's court at 11.30am. The suspect was calm as
he was brought out of court and escorted to a police car outside the Petaling
Jaya Court Complex at 12.30pm.
Read more: 'I'd kill Yuk Tim's killer' - General - New Straits
Times http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/i-d-kill-yuk-tim-s-killer1.383499#ixzz2inkBvn3d#ixzz2bklANx9c
23 October 2013
the Selangor Community Policing Association and her mother and several friends
concerning her disappearance. He claimed that he brought the victim, who had just
finished her Penilaian Menengah Rendah examination, to his house in Cheras. When he
allegedly tried to rape Ng, she fought back by biting and scratching him, causing him to
strike her with a dumbbell. He then allegedly stuffed her body in a suitcase and dumped
it in Jalan Kebun Nenas. After the confession, the suspect was brought to the district
police headquarters here yesterday. He led a police forensics team to the scene where
the body was allegedly dumped. After recovering the body, police went to the suspect's
home to collect evidence. Police seized his van, which was believed to have been used
to transport the body.
Read more: Man remanded over murder of 15-year-old girlfriend - Johor - New Straits
Timeshttp://www.nst.com.my/streets/johor/man-remanded-over-murder-of-15-year-old-girlfriend1.383070#ixzz2injXz3Vi
30 October 2013
IS
THE SOLUTION
FOR
Read more: Robbers nabbed after stealing TNB's electrical transformers - Latest - New Straits
Times http://www.nst.com.my/latest/robbers-nabbed-after-stealing-tnb-s-electrical-transformers1.388746#ixzz2jELBqLG0
26 November 2013
Read more: Fleeing robbers crash to a halt after 10km police chase - Latest - New Straits Times
http://www.nst.com.my/latest/fleeing-robbers-crash-to-a-halt-after-10km-police-chase1.182655#ixzz2ELZSrMIR
Read more: 4 robbers flee with RM700,000 jewellery in Kajang - Latest - New Straits
Timeshttp://www.nst.com.my/latest/4-robbers-flee-with-rm700-000-jewellery-in-kajang1.447665#ixzz2ogsZrCq1