Hisham adding insult to injury, says Bersih's Wong

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein’s comments on crime rate are “deplorable and offensive,” said Bersih steering committee member Wong Chin Huat, who was recently attacked by bikers.

“He is adding insult to the injury to those of us who have suffered physical harm, psychological trauma and property loss in crimes,” decried Wong in his posting on Facebook today.

He was responding to Hishammuddin’s comments yesterday, where he said theattempted robbery on Wong (left) and an attempted kidnapping on a teacher last week were merely isolated cases in spite of a downtrend in crime rate.

“Two cases do not cover the whole country, 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.

“Perhaps we may need to improve on perception but the reduction in crime was not said by me but by international bodies,” the minister had said.

Wong responded that the home minister should focus on introducing structural reforms to the police instead of worrying aboutperception.

These measures include allocating more police personnel to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which he said forms only nine percent of the police’s human resources, instead of the Special Branch, General Operations Force, and “non-core units” such as logistics.

In addition, he wants the government to commit to approving requests from state governments to establish auxiliary police forces instead of merely discuss it. 

Eventually, he wants the police to be decentralised such that state police forces are accountable to state governments, and work in collaboration with a federal police force that tackles human-trafficking, terrorism, and other major and cross-border crimes.

“Refusal to implement these reforms would be highly irresponsible as it would continue exposing us to the threat of crimes at home and on the streets. 

“It would also undermine the image of the police force, which would have done a better job if it is more effectively organised and commanded,” said Wong, who is also a political science lecturer.