Can ordinary Malaysians feel safe when even the home of a Mentri Besar is robbed?

Malaysians are deeply concerned by the surge of criminal activities ranging from the armed robbery of RM11.5 million microchips from a factory in the Bukit Tengah Industrial area in Penang yesterday to the burglary of Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar’s Datuk Seri Mohamad Abu Hassan’s home in Negeri Sembilan. How can 28 million ordinary Malaysians be safe from crime if even a Menteri Besar’s home is not safe?

I would also like to condemn strongly the spate of mischief paint attacks on the offices and property of PR and BN politicians in Penang. With the spike in crime nation-wide, the BN Federal government should reconsider spending RM 272.5 million in the 2013 Budget on public relations exercise on public safety but instead divert it directly to the police force to fight crime.

I wish to commend the Penang police for quickly arresting those involved in the RM 11.5 million heist of microchips and rcovering 90% of the stolen items. However the frequency of such crime has resulted in the public fearing crime and for their family’s safety. The Home Ministry must do more to allay public fears instead of rolling out statistics which nobody believes in that the crime index has fallen.

Job is done only when the people feel safe

The Federal Government can only succeed in convincing the public that the crime situation is under control not when the people are told that they are safe but when the public do feel safe.

The public must feel safe when they are assured that they can leave their homes in peace and return home safely. To succeed in making the public feel safe, money must be given to increase police personnel on the streets, buy more police equipment and vehicles.

For this reason, the Penang state government does not agree that RM 272.5 million be provided to “Increase Public Satisfaction on Police Performance”.

Instead of spending taxpayers’ money to improve the police force and reduce actual crime, the BN has decided to allocate this money for an empty public relations exercise that will only benefit politically linked consultants and advertisers.

Spending RM 272.5 million just to do packaging that Malaysia is safe, the police is doing a good job and that the Home Minister is great will not help to persuade the skeptical public that crime is indeed coming down in our country.

Lim Guan Eng is the DAP sec-gen & Penang Chief Minister