Umno's use of Guan Eng to defend Johor raises questions about the crime rate

The ferocity and fervour with which UMNO parliamentarians came out to chastise DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng over his alleged remarks concerning Johor’s safety is similar to those shown to PAS deputy president Mat Sabu over his comments concerning Bukit Kepong.

There are no real facts to justify the attacks made via the main-stream media nor through the government-controlled newspapers. What was most likely a verbal statement by an opposition leader has now been spun to mean other things aside from what it really was.

Even so, it has cast the spotlight on what is really the current state of crime rate in Malaysia, not just Johor. How true are the government's gushings that things are under control and the rate is on a decided downtrend?

When crime statistics are classified...

Early this year, Bukit Aman denied NGO Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) access to the 2010 Crime Statistics booklet prepared by its Sexual Crimes and Child Abuse division. “We requested for it on March 3, but got a reply that they cannot release these statistics as they have been classified as confidential,” said Ivy Josiah, WAO executive director. “Why should statistics on sexual crimes and crimes against children be ‘confidential’? Isn’t the request a basic one?”

This is indeed strange, why are Crime Statistics deemed confidential? Why are official figures kept away from the public eye? Crime Statistics are compiled by the police and by right up till 2005-2006, these statistics were available until they mysteriously disappeared from public view. Now, the 2010 Crime Statistics has even been classified.

So can it really be untrue that crime rates are high especially in states like Johor that sees heavy traffic of rich Singaporeans on daily shopping excursions? With so little transparency, can Malaysians be blamed for doubting the government's word that the crime rate is actually falling?

Double standards

As for Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's inference that Guan Eng wanted to scare away Singaporean investors from investing in Johor, how valid is this or is it mere politicising? Yet, throwing good sense to the wind, the mainstream media spun his words as the gospel truth and the prime argument to lash out at Guan Eng.

But did Guan Eng really meant to scare away Singaporeans from investing in Johor by saying that the place was “not safe”? Would investors be so easily scared? Or was Guan Eng injecting some black humor into what is very likely and very sadly, the black truth?

And if Guan Eng is to be pinned down for his Johor comment, what about the one made by the head of the hawkers association, Abdullah Md Yusuf. Abdullah said that since Penang was taken over and governed by the DAP, the Malays have been victimised and not treated fairly as compared with the other groups. Why is Abdullah allowed to get away with such a provoking and racist-tinged statement? Others have been charged for Sedition and jailed under the Internal Security Act for stating less.

Smear campaign like Mat Sabu's

If UMNO is all out to prove that Johor is truly safe, then why not have the police release the crime statistics state by state to the public. Guan Eng would then have to defend himself by releasing all the various statistics to prove what he says is true - that the Malay businesses are not victimised in Penang and in fact far better off than when Gerakan was in charge. Isn't fairer and more constructive for the people?

At the end of the day, it is all a game of perception and the goal is to build the image that all things non-UMNO is bad.

Johor is the UMNO heart-land and the DPM is himself a Johorean, thus it seems fitting to play the 'Malay patriot' defending his home state. Whether or not Johoreans are simple-minded enough to believe and vote for him out of hero-worship remains to be seen. But this certainly has all the signs of a smear campaign to kickstart the GE-13 and in true UMNO fashion, it is meant to ignite the fire of hatred against Pakatan.

The battle for Johor heats up

And this will be the pattern taken by BN and UMNO in the run-up to GE13. Starved of real issues to present before the people because they have shirked undertaking real reforms, BN will play up each and every squeak from the Pakatan leaders. Facts and figures will be tossed aside and hidden, while mere opinions from pro-UMNO individuals will be played up to the max.

The worse is yet to come as UMNO scrambles to win over the Malay vote. UMNO needs to turn 5% of the Malay vote back into its favour in order for BN to gain two-thirds of the 222 seats in Parliament. And to accomplish this 5% swing, they will resort to every trick in the book, discarding honour and truth. Indeed, the battle has begun to win the hearts and minds of the Malay heart-land.

Malaysia Chronicle