‘People still don’t feel safe on the streets’

The DAP secretary-general said the home minister must understand that reducing crime rate index does not mean that people are feeling safer on the streets.

KUALA LUMPUR: Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein must be sensitive enough to understand that people’s lives, and not statistics, is what the country is talking about, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said.

Speaking at a press conference at Parliament today, Lim said declining crime rate does not necessarily mean that people are feeling safer on the streets.

“We’re talking about people being raped, robbed and beaten up by criminals. Don’t say the rising number of such cases is mere media perception,” said Lim, who was flanked by party vice-chairman M Kulasegaran and MPs Tan Kok Wai and Chong Eng.

Yesterday, Hishammuddin was reported as saying the soaring number of high- profile crime cases was a matter of media perception as crime rate index was on a downtrend.

He was responding to recent robbery and attack on Bersih steering committee member Wong Chin Huat on Saturday.

“Tell me in which country there was no crime?” asked Hishammuddin who added that it was an isolated matter.

Lim reminded the home minister that foreign investors are observing the happenings in the country and urged Hishammuddin to combat crime effectively.

“Our image is battered as our security is at risk. Any government that cannot secure its citizens’ safety is not a capable government,” he said.

The Penang chief minister urged Hishammuddin to have a meeting with the National Security Council and identify crime hotspots in the country to combat crime.

“Talk to the state governments to find ways to reduce crime. We are not talking about politics here but people’s safety,” he said.