Philosophy Politics Economics |
- Najib Shows He Is Not Malaysian First
- More Defence Scandals
- Chua Tee Yong Doubts KPMG Too?
- Stop Persecuting SUARAM
- PEMANDU Must Retract Safest Country in Southeast Asia Claim
- Najib Must Disclose EDL Buy Back Compensation
- Why is there "Non-Index Crime"?
- Crime Statistics Manipulated
- Will PEMANDU Confirm If Crime Statistics Are Audited?
| Najib Shows He Is Not Malaysian First Posted: 17 Sep 2012 05:30 AM PDT Bernama reported that the Prime Minister said that "the 13th general election is not an ordinary election. Instead, it will determine the survival of the Malays." He used the threat of "the survival of the Malays" to threaten Malays into supporting Barisan Nasional. The Umno president said "Malays should realise that as the backbone of the Barisan Nasional (BN), Umno would be able to continue the struggle of the Malays and Islam." The above statements proved that Dato' Seri Najib Razak failed as a Prime Minister for all Malaysians, especially as the nation celebrates the 49th anniversary of Malaysia Day today. At the start of Dato' Seri Najib's premiership, he has made the "1Malaysia" slogan the cornerstone of his entire administration, which he defined as "every Malaysian perceives himself or herself as Malaysian first, and by race, religion, geographical region or socio-economic background second and where the principles of 1Malaysia are woven into the economic, political and social fabric of society" in the Government Transformation Programme (GTP). However his exhortation to the Malays proved that the Prime Minister is more than willing to play the racial card to protect BN's hold on power. He has shown that he speaks not as the Prime Minister for all Malaysians, but an instigator of continued racial division in the country. Dato' Seri Najib's speech also exposed the fact that like his Deputy, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, they see themselves as "Malays first", and not "Malaysians First" as defined in the GTP. Tan Sri Muhyiddin had said in 2009 "How can I say I'm Malaysian first and Malay second? All the Malays will shun me and say that it is not proper." As we celebrate both our independence from our colonial masters on 31st August and formation of Malaysia on 16th September, a Prime Minister for all Malaysians should be extolling the virtues of a united nation regardless of race, religion, class or geography. However, what we have is a Prime Minister who tells the Malay community that they are being attacked and threatened by the other races in the country. It is hence not a surprise that Dato' Seri Najib never reprimanded Tan Sri Muhyiddin's public declaration that he is "Malay first" despite the clear contradiction to the 1Malaysia definition in the GTP. It is not a surprise because they both see themselves as "Malay first" and not Malaysian First. This also shows that Najib's "1Malaysia" is pretty on the outside, but empty on the inside. The whole "1Malaysia" campaign is to present a false picture of Malaysian First, with no sincere leadership or intent build a truly Malaysian First country. The Prime Minister's position blots our 49th anniversary celebration of Malaysia Day and it raises the question as to why, after 49 years of nationhood, we are unable to elect a Prime Minister who puts the interest of all Malaysians, above that of a person's race. We can only hope that the Malay community will not be so easily threatened by Dato' Seri Najib and will, together with all other Malaysians, pick a government that will be fair to all its citizens regardless of race, religion, class and geography in the next general election.  |
| Posted: 13 Sep 2012 05:41 AM PDT The reprimand by the Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Ismail on the acquisition of Rapid Intervention Vehicles (RIVs) at exhorbitant prices highlights the malaise in the Ministry of Defence procurement exercises On Saturday 8 September 2012, the Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Ismail asked that "nobody should take advantage of the situation for personal gains when acquiring equipment for the Special Forces," adding that recently four Rapid Intervention Vehicles (RIV) were purchased for RM2.76mil or RM690,000 each by the Ministry of Defence. Sultan Ibrahim then displayed one of the RIV vehicles and another personal vehicle that he purchased for RM150,000. "Which of these will be your choice? I do not understand why government purchases involve exorbitant charges that do not make sense," Sultan Ibrahim, who is also a Colonel in the Special Forces, was reported to have said. The above acquisition follows a series of controversial procurement of defence vehicles by the Ministry of Defence that have raised major question marks over whether the tax payers are getting value for their money. In 2008 the Ministry of Defence has acquired 12 Eurocopter Cougar EC725 for RM2.3 billion or RM193 million each despite the same model helicopter being acquired for only RM82.8 million each by the Brazillian government. The Ministry had attempted to justify their higher purchase price to the Parliamentary Accounts Committee on the basis that there were "customisations" on the vehicle to meet the needs of the local air force. Last year, the Ministry also awarded a RM6 billion contract to Boustead Naval Shipyard to build 6 offshore patrol vessels and a RM7.55 billion contract to purchase 257 units of 8x8 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) from DRB Hicom Bhd. The RM6 billion contract was subsequently inflated to a RM9 billion contract and the Minister of Defence, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi had justified the both the acquisition and the increase in price on the fact that Malaysians are acquiring the state of the art "littoral combatant ships" (LCS). It was subsequently exposed that the Ministry of Defence had merely "renamed" the German-made "Gowind Class" naval vessels into "LCS", which is the name for the more technologically advanced ships built for the United States. We can only interpret that the "renaming" of the ships is done to mislead the public into believing that we were indeed acquiring the best-in-class ships with the RM9 billion contract. Similarly, it was exposed that while we are buying 257 APCs from DRB-Hicom for RM7.55 billion, DRB-Hicom is acquiring the 257 APCs from Turkish defence contractor for RM1.7 billion. While DRB-Hicom will still need to install certain optional equipment, such as the turret guns and software systems onto the APCs, it is beyond reasonable believe that such additional "customisations" will cause the bill to be inflated from RM1.7 billion to RM7.55 billion; or from only an average of RM6.6 million to RM29.4 million for each vehicle. When the above controversies were exposed, I was accused by the Minister of Defence as a foreign spy seeking to expose national defence secrets and criticised as being ill-informed with regards to defence technology. However, when the critique comes from the Sultan of Johor, the Minister has no choice but to concede an investigation into the glaring financial irregularity. Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi had responded yesterday that "the Defence Ministry takes note of the comment positively. [He] will look into the difference in prices between the RIV awarded by Sultan Ibrahim priced at RM150,000 compared with the RM690,000 sold by the supplier." We call upon all of the above deals to be investigated and scrutinised not the Ministry of Defence itself, but by an independent Parliamentary Oversight Committee. Malaysians have no faith that the Ministry will be able to conduct an investigation that is fair and above board. In the light of procurement transparency promoted by the Government Transformation Programme, it is critical that the Ministry of Defence supports the set up of the Oversight Committee to prove that all is above board. After all, if all the above transactions are of value for money to the Government, then surely there is nothing to hide from this independent panel.  |
| Chua Tee Yong Doubts KPMG Too? Posted: 07 Sep 2012 05:50 AM PDT Datuk Chua Tee Yong is proving himself to be the worst MCA Minister, first with his bogus RM1 billion Talam Debt Bailout claim and now, insinuating incompetence and fraud by in the audit by independent auditors KPMG by referring to the US Enron scandal. On 3 July 2012, Datuk Chua Tee Yong commenced a series of malicious allegations against the Selangor state government led by Pakatan Rakyat with concocted claims that Selangor abused RM1 billion to bailout Talam Corporation by purchasing the latter's properties at high prices, allowing the latter to recover from financial distress. This has included the fictitious claim that Talam's shares were lifted from suspension on Bursa Malaysia as a result of Selangor's actions. We have already proven that Talam was never suspended on Bursa Malaysia, and the company completed its financial regularization plan, which was approved by Securities Commission in 2009, well before any agreements was signed with the current Selangor state government. Despite the embarrassment of making false allegations, as well as the detailed explanations given with regards to the fact that no money was ever paid to Talam Corporation by the state government and the non-existence of any RM1 billion abuse of any kind, MCA prodigy has been relentless in touring Selangor's hills and lakes to continue the accusations that the state government either "over-paid" or made unsound investment decisions which disadvantaged the state, and benefited Talam. The state government led by Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim has taken the simple step of appointing independent international auditors KPMG to conduct a due diligence on the Talam deal immediately to ensure that the Malaysian public not only gets to hear from the state government, they have a open and transparent mechanism to evaluate the state's competence. The independent auditors have completed their due diligence study and were given access to every document requested to conduct the investigations. KPMG has confirmed in its report that "the Selangor State Government entered into two debt settlement agreements with Talam in order to recover an amount of RM392 million of debts owed by Talam…" where "the debt settlement was in the form of settlement assets, comprising 9 plots of land, 2 properties and 60% shares in a subsidiary of Talam and cash/debt assignment. Most importantly, the auditors concluded that "the settlement agreements entered into with Talam were purely a debt settlement arrangement" which means there is only collection from Talam, and no payment to Talam to purchase any properties from the latter as repeatedly accused by Datuk Chua and his merry men. In fact, after reviewing all documents on the transactions, including valuation reports conducted by both the Federal government agencies as well as private property valuers, KPMG was happy to concluded that "the Selangor State Government made a sound commercial decision". KPMG further added that "the gross consideration is sufficient… to recover the Talam debts, with no debt waiver by Menteri Besar Incorporated". There can be no stronger endorsement on the decisions made by the state government under the Talam debt settlement agreement to prove not only that they were above board, they were also made in the interest of the state. There was no "haircut" undertaken by Selangor in the recovery exercise. Instead of hiding from sheer embarrassment, Datuk Chua Tee Yong has decided to humiliate himself further by stating in his tweet yesterday, "(an) audit report depends on the scope of the work. Enron and a lot of (other) cases show that (an) audit and its results are limited to the documents available," he said in a tweet." Datuk Chua Tee Yong is fast proving himself to be the least competent of the many incompetent MCA Ministers and Deputy Ministers in the Cabinet. After clamouring for independent reports, Datuk Chua is now insinuating that he knows more, or has in his possession more documents than was supplied to KPMG in the latter's audit. He is now clearly insinuating that KPMG is not competent in its audit exercise and has taken part in audit fraud by comparing the Talam audit to the mega Enron audit scandal in the United States. Datuk Chua is shameless in making such accusations especially since he himself claims to be a qualified Australia-certified Chartered Accountant. If he has any further evidence to the contrary, we have set up a forum or debate in his constituency of Labis this coming weekend on 9th September 7.30pm for him to prove himself in front of his own constituents. The state government has now officially appointed us, Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, William Leong and Tony Pua to be the official spokespersons for the government on this issue. There is no longer basis for Datuk Chua to give excuses that we do not represent the state and hence are unfit to "debate" him. If Datuk Chua is not even willing to defend himself in front of his own voters who put him in office, then he should just forever hold his peace on the Talam issue and start focusing on more pressing issues in the Ministry of Agriculture such as recovering the RM250 million outstanding from National Feedlot Corporation.  |
| Posted: 06 Sep 2012 05:54 AM PDT The Companies Commission of Malaysia has shown remarkable diligence in raiding the offices of Suara Inisiatif Sdn Bhd, the operating entity of Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM) non-governmental organization (NGO). Yesterday, officers from the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) had gone to Suara Inisiatif Sdn Bhd's company secretary and auditor's office and conducted a search and seized documents related to the company. The notices to search and seize were issued under Section 7C and 7D(1) of the Companies Act 1965. The above sections of the law are essentially the powers of CCM to conduct searches and seizures or "fishing expeditions", indicating no particular offence committed by SUARAM. The raid was conducted despite SUARAM having written to CCM on 20th July 2012 that they will provide full cooperation to the latter and will provide further documents and information upon receiving written requests to do so. Even PERKESO, the agency which manages SOCSO payments had ordered SUARAM to produce a list of documents to the office on 30th August 2012. In compliance to the notice, SUARAM had produced the requested documents to the relevant officer, who in-turn was completely clueless to SUARAM's presence. The actions by the Government agencies, under pressure from UMNO and right-wing racist organisations such as Jaringan Melayu Malaysia and PERKASA, particularly by CCM are of extreme prejudice in nature. Over the past year, I have exposed many companies which have flouted many laws in the Companies Act 1965. They've included the companies owned by Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil's family members who own the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC). For example, NFC has granted personal loans to the directors of the company that breached Section 133 and 133A of the Companies' Act where such loans are clearly prohibited. The family's other companies, National Meat & Livestock Company Sdn Bhd, Real Food Company Sdn Bhd and Meatworks Sdn Bhd have failed to hold the company's Annual General Meetings, file its Annual Returns to the Registrar of Companies together with their Audited Financial Report. These offences are clear breached of Section 169A of the Companies Act, which carries the penalty 5 years in prison and/or RM30,000. Similarly, Yayasan Gerakbakti Kebangsaan (YGK) owned by UMNO Youth with Khairy Jamaluddin and Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan as directors, has never filed their accounts since 2009. Why is it that up to today, despite the above exposes being made at least 6 months ago, the CCM has failed to act against the above companies despite the proven breaches? On the other hand, why is it that despite having done no wrong, the CCM and the other government agencies have been relentless in their pursuit to charge SUARAM. It is clear as day that the current persecution is mediated the exposes on Najib and the multibillion ringgit Scorpene submarine scandal. We call upon the CCM to stay away from politically motivated actions which will only tarnish its image as an impartial entity. If it has to act against SUARAM, then surely action must be taken against the many companies of UMNO leaders, family members and cronies which have clearly breached many aspects of the law SUARAM has done an impeccable job with the Scorpene submarine scandal which implicates the Prime Minister himself. We hope SUARAM will maintain the course and double up its efforts especially to ensure that those corrupt leaders who abuses power will be rejected outright.  |
| PEMANDU Must Retract Safest Country in Southeast Asia Claim Posted: 04 Sep 2012 06:29 AM PDT PEMANDU has in its Government Transformation Programme (GTP) Annual Report 2011 and its many presentations, claimed that "for the first time ever, Malaysia attains "most peaceful" and "safest nation" titles Malaysia's position as the most peaceful country in Southeast Asia and the 4th safest in the Asia Pacific region behind New Zealand, Japan and Australia was validated by the 5th edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI) 2011." What's more, PEMANDU claimed credit for Malaysia being "ranked the safest country among 19 upper middle income countries by the World Justice Project's Rule of Law Index 2011. Both external validations underscored the good progress made under the Reducing Crime NKRA." The recent expose by an anonymous letter accused the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) of manipulating crime statistics to present an artificial picture of the crime situation in Malaysia was confirmed with the data provided by PDRM. Based on the PDRM statistics, they successfully reduced the official crime statistics from 209,572 in 2007 to 157,891 in 2011, or 24.7% over the period. However, this was achieved at the expense of the unpublished "non-index crime", which increased from 42,752 to 72,106 or a massive 68.7% over the same period. More obviously, in the first year of the GTP Reducing Crime NKRA, the official crime index dropped by 15.4% in 2010 but the non-index crime increased by 21.5%. Most suspiciously, "non-index crime" is increasing annually as a proportion of total crime since 2007 based on PDRM data. It has increased from 16.9% of total crime in 2007 to 21.9% (2008) to 22.8% (2009) to 29.8% (2010) to a record of 31.4% in 2011. The clear-cut disjoint between the significant drop in "index crime" versus the drastic increase in "non-index crime" points strongly towards data manipulation, and validates the accusation by the anonymous letter writer that the PDRM is systematically re-classifying "index crime" to "non-index crime" cases. Hence all the supposed achievements which PEMANDU has been trumpeting from the rooftop, including the unbelievable claim that Malaysia is the safest country in Southeast Asia, even safer than Singapore, is built on artificial and manipulated data. While other countries like Singapore include all types of crime – including moral and white-collar crimes in their crime statistics, Malaysia has to massage its crime data by publishing "index crime" data and hiding "non-index crime" from official statistics. In United Kingdom, even "anti-social behaviour" is classified as a crime on the Police website. Malaysians are completely puzzled as to why a robbery is re-classified into a "non-index crime" just because the weapon is "concealed". Similarly, according to PDRM, "if a house break-in occurred but no goods or belongings were evidently removed by the burglar, e.g. if perpetrator escaped before he or she managed to take any goods… the investigation officer will necessarily charge the offender with a lesser offence such as Section 452 and 453" which are "non-index crimes". Instead of crowing on the PDRM achievements via manipulated statistics, such as the claim of an alleged 39.7% fall in street crimes between 2009 and 2011, PEMANDU must overhaul its entire crime reporting and evaluation mechanism. PEMANDU must immediately recommend the scrapping of the ludicrous official "index crime" and the hidden "non-index crime" classification which is clearly subjected to manipulation and to artificially improve "perception" among Malaysians. In fact it is the police and the Government's persistent pre-occupation with "perception" of crime, instead of effectively fighting crime which inevitably leads to statistical manipulation by those responsible.  |
| Najib Must Disclose EDL Buy Back Compensation Posted: 03 Sep 2012 06:36 AM PDT The Prime Minister must practice full disclosure on the proposed acquisition of the Eastern Dispersal Link from Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB) to ensure the latter does not profit enormously from the exercise We welcome the news from the Minister from the Prime Minister's Department, Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop who announced that the Government intents to buy-back the Eastern Dispersal Link (EDL) from the concession holder. This proves that the proposals by Pakatan Rakyat to acquire toll concessions is financially viable and will not "bankrupt" the country as accused repeated by Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders. As my colleague, PKR Strategy Director Rafizi Ramli has highlighted earlier, it also shows that BN is desperately copying policies from our Buku Jingga in order to dampen the support for Pakatan Rakyat. However, the Government must be completely transparent in the buy-back exercise to ensure that they will not end up compensating Malaysian Resources Corporation Bhd (MRCB) with astronomical amount of profit. Malaysians, especially Johoreans do not want to see a repeat of the aborted Gerbang Perdana "crooked bridge" project fiasco where the concessionaire was compensated RM257 million. This was despite the fact that they would only be paid RM100 million to build the bridge. That meant it cost the Government more money to stop the project halfway, than it is to actually complete it! We do not want the Government to agree to buy-back the concession only to compensate for "loss of future profits" to MRCB – which effectively means the taxpayers' money will be used to pay for toll upfront to MRCB. We call on the Government to:
Given that the RM1.2 billion project (MRCB Annual Report 2011) was built with RM1,044 million of sukuk bonds, the shareholders' contribution to the project is only approximately RM160 million. Assuming that the RM160 million was invested upfront in 2007 when the concession was awarded, the maximum total compensation payable to MRCB on top of their investment sum is 12% of RM160 million multiplied by 5 years or RM96 million. Hence given the initial estimates, based on the presumption that the concession contract terms for expropriation by the Government is the same as previously declassified agreements, the maximum compensation the Government should agree to is: RM1,044 million (sukuk) + RM160 million (shareholders' capital and/or loan) + RM96 million (5 years' interest on shareholders' capital and/or loan) = RM1,300 million Therefore the Government must compensate the concessionaire in accordance to the 34-year concession agreement and not to unfairly compensate for more than what was specified in the agreement. By paying MRCB anything more than RM1.3 billion, it will show that BN is abusing its powers to profit its crony companies and is failing in its fiduciary duty to protect and defend the interest of ordinary Malaysian taxpayers. The Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Najib Razak promised that the "people's interest comes first", and there is no better time to prove it in the expropriation of the EDL concession.  |
| Why is there "Non-Index Crime"? Posted: 31 Aug 2012 06:45 AM PDT Malaysians do not understand why certain crimes are classified as non-index crime and hence excluded entirely from the crime index, hence giving a false picture of the true crime picture in the country My statement yesterday has exposed the fact that in the battle to reduce crime index in Malaysia, the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) has successfully reduced it from 209,572 in 2007 to 157,891 in 2011, or 24.7% over the period. However, this was achieved at the expense of the unpublished "non-index crime", which increased from 42,752 to 72,106 or a massive 68.7% over the same period. Most suspiciously, "non-index crime" is increasing annually as a proportion of total crime since 2007 based on PDRM data. It has increased from 16.9% of total crime in 2007 to 21.9% (2008) to 22.8% (2009) to 29.8% (2010) to a record of 31.4% in 2011. The clear-cut disjoint between the significant drop in "index crime" versus the drastic increase in "non-index crime" points strongly towards data manipulation, and validates the accusation by the anonymous letter writer that the PDRM is systematically re-classifying "index crime" to "non-index crime" cases. However, what is also puzzling is why there is a need for a "non-index crime" classification in the first place. Prior to the expose by the letter writer, hardly anyone knew about the existence of "non-index crime". PDRM has explained that in robbery cases, Section 392 (Robbery) and Section 397 (Gang Robbery), under the Penal Code are classified as index crime. However, certain cases will be re-classified as non-index under Section 382 (Theft with Preparation to Cause Hurt or Death) of the Penal Code. Since, Section 382 of the Penal Code is a non-index crime, therefore will not be reflected in the crime statistics. According to PDRM "for Section 382, there must be an element of concealment e.g. weapon in the pocket, hidden accomplices, whereas for Section 392 or 397, the intention to cause fear is expressed and not concealed e.g. tying up the victim, threatening the victim with a weapon." Similarly, in burglary cases under Section 457 (House Break-In to Commit an Offence Punishable with Imprisonment - e.g. Theft), some were reclassified to Section 452 and 453 (House Break-In with Preparation made for Causing Hurt). According to PDRM, "if a house break-in occurred but no goods or belongings were evidently removed by the burglar, e.g. if perpetrator escaped before he or she managed to take any goods, or if the investigation officer does not have enough evidence to prove both house break-in and theft (i.e. specific goods explicitly taken out of possession of the owner) but has enough evidence to prove house break-in - in this scenario, the investigation officer will necessarily charge the offender with a lesser offence such as Section 452 and 453." Malaysians are completely puzzled as to why if a robbery occurs but the weapons are "concealed", then the relevant Section 382 that applies is not regarded as an index crime. The situation is even more ludicrous given that both "Unarmed Robbery" and "Armed Robbery" are index crimes, but "Robbery with concealed weapons" or "Theft with Preparation to Cause Hurt or Death" is classified as a non-index crime. Similarly, just because a burglar who was successful in breaking into a house but escaped with nothing "explicitly" tangible would be counted towards the crime index. The whole classification of index and non-index crime by the PDRM makes a complete mockery of the crime statistics published by PDRM, PEMANDU and the Home Ministry. The actions by the PDRM to create "index crime" versus "non-index crime" classifications, on top of the highly suspicious pattern of rapidly increasing non-index crime which points clearly towards data manipulation. It destroys all claims of crime-fighting success under Najib's administration. We call upon PDRM to end the bizarre index and non-index crime classification and republish all historical crime data to present the real picture of crime in Malaysia. In fact we call upon the Government to stop all misleading references to "index crime" achievements and provide only data relating to total crime in the country, index or otherwise. While the Home Ministry and PEMANDU has been quick to blame "perception" for Malaysian's fear of crime, they have failed to check on their own statistics which have been manipulated extensively to present only a picture of overwhelming crime-fighting success, such as the alleged 39.7% fall in street crimes between 2009 and 2011.  |
| Posted: 30 Aug 2012 06:51 AM PDT The clarification over crime statistics by the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) does not at all exonerate the government but instead clearly indicates data manipulation by the authorities. After nearly a week of silence, the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) finally provided a lengthy reply to the allegations made in an anonymous letter that the authorities have manipulated crime statistics in Malaysia to give a brighter picture. According to the letter, crime cases were being methodically shifted into "non-index" offences that were not registered as part of official statistics presented by efficiency unit PEMANDU. Index crime is defined as crime which is reported with sufficient regularity and with sufficient significance to be meaningful as an index to the crime situation". "Non-index crime", on the other hand, is considered as cases minor in nature and does not occur with such rampancy to warrant its inclusion into the crime statistics or as a benchmark to determine the crime situation. For example, robbery cases, Section 392 (Robbery) and Section 397 (Gang Robbery), under the Penal Code are classified as index crime. This offence will be re-classified as non-index under Section 382 (Theft with Preparation to Cause Hurt or Death) of the Penal Code. Since, Section 382 of the Penal Code is a non-index crime, therefore will not be reflected in the crime statistics. PDRM has defended itself from the above key accusation by claiming that even after taking into account non-index crime, "overall crime (Index + Non-Index) has in fact reduced in 2010, 2011 and 2012 (year-to-date)". PDRM claimed that the total index and non-index crime has dropped 7%, 9% and 5.3% respectively in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Hence PDRM concluded that the allegation is erroneous. On the contrary, this simplistic and misleading reply from PDRM has in fact exposed the likelihood that crime data manipulation had indeed taken place extensively. The Government had in fact boasted its achievement of 15.4%, 11.1% and 10.1% reduction in the crime index over 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively as its remarkable achievement under the Crime National Key Result Area (NKRA). The fact that after non-index crime is taken into account, the crime-fighting performance dropped significantly provides strong evidence of manipulation. Based on statistics provided by PDRM, "index crime" has dropped from 209,572 in 2007 to 157,891 in 2011, or 24.7% over the period. However, "non-index crime" has on the contrary, increased from 42,752 to 72,106 or a massive 68.7% over the same period. (See Chart 1) Chart 1: Index and Non-Index Crime 2007-2011  Chart 2: Proportion of Index and Non-Index Crime 2007-2011  The clear-cut disjoint between the significant drop in "index crime" versus the drastic increase in "non-index crime" points strongly towards data manipulation, and validates the accusation by the anonymous letter writer that the PDRM is systematically re-classifying "index crime" to "non-index crime" cases. If there is indeed no manipulation of data as claimed by PDRM, how else can they explain the shockingly divergent trends between index and non-index crime? Under normal circumstances, if the crime situation in the country has improved as much as boasted by the authorities, then both index and non-index criminal cases should show a declining trend. While the total index and non-index crime cases based on PDRM data has indeed dropped over the past 2-3 years, it appears that the data has been systematically manipulated to present an inflated over-achievement under the Najib administration. The Government Transformation Programme (GTP) Annual Report 2011 has for example, boasted that street crimes have been reduced by a "phenomenal" 39.7%. If the manipulation of crime data is indeed true, the there is no assurance that no other steps have been taken by PDRM or the authorities to use other measures to further reduce the crime index data in order to achieve the desired outcome under Najib's NKRA programme. There is hence a complete absence of credibility in the data presented by the Government and it explains clearly why all the chest-thumping by the authorities over its crime-fighting achievements are not translated into greater sense of security by the ordinary man-on-the-street.  |
| Will PEMANDU Confirm If Crime Statistics Are Audited? Posted: 29 Aug 2012 06:56 AM PDT PEMANDU has in its Annual Reports and public presentations has repeatedly emphasized that all data and statistics cited by PEMANDU have been "audited", "verified" and "confirmed" by an independent external auditor to emphasize the accuracy and validity of the numbers presented. As reported in the 2011 Government Transformation Programme (GTP) Annual Report produced by PEMANDU, "PricewaterhouseCoopers Malaysia (PwC), was engaged in early 2010 and subsequently in 2011 to… validate that the information and data inputs used in determining selected reported NKPIs were in agreement with the information provided by participating ministries, agencies or departments. The respective NKPI calculations were also checked against the guidelines and formulae prescribed by PEMANDU." The Report went on to claim that "the audit report or more precisely the Agreed upon Procedures (AUP) exercise undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the GTP's data has been verified and confirmed." Therefore it has come as a complete shock that there are allegations by a former police officer that the data for crime statistics have been systematically manipulated to present the extraordinary success of the police force in reducing crime rates in the country. The GTP Annual Report 2011 boasted that street crimes have been reduced by a "phenomenal" 39.7% while the overall crime index has also fallen by a very commendable 11.1%. According to the letter written by the anonymous officer, crime cases were being methodically shifted into "non-index" offences that were not registered as part of official statistics presented by efficiency unit PEMANDU. Index crime is defined as crime which is reported with sufficient regularity and with sufficient significance to be meaningful as an index to the crime situation". "Non-index crime", on the other hand, is considered as cases minor in nature and does not occur with such rampancy to warrant its inclusion into the crime statistics or as a benchmark to determine the crime situation. The writer of the letter gave very detailed and specific examples of how the crime index was manipulated:
Hence if the allegations are true, and given complete lack of denial by the Royal Malaysian Police, PEMANDU, the Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein and the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak after nearly a week the letter was published, Malaysians cannot but conclude that the glamourous crime statistical achievements published by PEMANDU is nothing by a complete scam. We would further like PEMANDU, or if they so wish, PwC to confirm if the latter has indeed verified the accuracy and validity of the crime statistics presented by the Royal Malaysian Police to ensure that they have not been manipulated to present artificial achievements. If no due diligence has been done by PEMANDU or PwC on these data, then PEMANDU is guilty of by publishing inaccurate and inflated the Government's crime fighting achievements as having been "audited", "verified", "authenticated" and "confirmed" by an international auditing firm. That will be the greatest irony, for PEMANDU is committing the crime of misrepresentation and data fraud, specifically to cover up incidences of crime in Malaysia.  |
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