Nurul Izzah Anwar |
| Nurul Izzah: Anti-crime laws sufficient but enforcement weak Posted: 15 Aug 2013 05:31 PM PDT PETALING JAYA, Aug 15 — Putrajaya needs to beef up its law enforcement efforts instead of introducing more anti-crime laws, PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar said today. Amid a debate over the need for a return of preventive detention laws, Nurul Izzah shot down suggestions that the spike in crime is partly due to the loss of such laws, which she described as “draconian”. ‘”Malaysia already has enough laws to prevent crimes; our weaknesses is on the enforcement of these laws, providing and maintaining surveillance such as CCTVs and patrol cars, as well as having enough trained police officers on the streets,” she said in a statement today. The two-term Lembah Pantai MP (picture) highlighted the problems of faulty close-circuit cameras (CCTV) and the alleged low level of police resources being directed towards actual fighting. “The non-functioning CCTV problem – one of the most important elements in the safety and security monitoring – is nothing new,” she said. Nurul Izzah pointed to Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Seri Ahmad Phesal Talib’s admittance on August 7 that 60 per cent of the 419 CCTVs in the city were not working, with Astro Awani’s online report attributing it to vandalisme and lack of maintainence. She also highlighted a fund proposed by the then minister Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin to improve the security of housing areas in the federal territories through various measures, including the installation of CCTVS. The targeted amount for the Tabung Keselamatan 1Wilayah Persekutuan (1Federal Territories Security Fund) was set at RM4 million by Raja Nong Chik’s federal territories and urban well-being ministry in September last year. “To date, have absolutely no way of verifying how many of these cameras have been installed, and more importantly – how many are actually functioning,” Nurul Izzah said. In February this year, news reports quoted Raja Nong Chik as thanking the prime minister for announcing an additional RM5 million for the fund, with the former saying that there was already RM7 million in the fund. In her statement today, Nurul Izzah said the police force should put more of its men in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), instead of subjecting them to office work or the purported spying on the political rivals of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. “According to the statistics gathered from government sources -about 30 percent of PDRM's officers are placed under the managerial, administrative and logistics departments. “If the government is serious in combatting crime, PDRM needs to be restructured -with the bulk of the police workforce stationed in the crime prevention department,” she said, noting that Malaysia’s police to population ratio at 1: 275 was already close to global standards. She said these problems could be solved through the setting up of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), an independent body which could monitor the police force. Earlier today, Cabinet minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz disagreed with any moves to bring back the Emergency Ordinance (EO) to give the police preventive detention powers to tackle a rise in violent crime, despite acknowledging its effects on the tourism sector. He explained that news of the shooting incidents could not be contained and it was inevitable that the world would eventually learn of them. "Certainly it will affect in a way our tourism, there's no doubt about it, but to bring back the EO is out of the question as far as I am concerned," the minister of tourism and culture told the media after launching the Red Carpet interactive wax museum at i-City here. Nazri said the government should instead overhaul the police force in order to arrest violent crime. "We should do more modern policing, gathering of evidence, strengthen the Special Branch, put more policemen on the street but not bring back the EO, that's out of the question," he said. The police and Home Ministry have blamed the rash of shootings and violent crimes on the release of detainees once held without trial under the now-repealed EO, and are angling for the return of such powers. Source |
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