Comprehensive approach needed in battling gangsterism

Displacement from plantation and lack of educational as well employment opportunities drive Indians to a life of crime.

PETALING JAYA: A holistic measure is needed to stem the rise of Indians being involved in criminal activities, said academic Denison Jayasooria.

Denison, who is a coordinator of Action Research Project on Inclusive Community under Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), said that the matter was raised in a meeting with Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) yesterday.

Representing the police in the meeting yesterday was Ayub Yaakob, PDRM director of the newly minted crime prevention department.

“In the meeting, we told Ayub that there is structural problem in the community that is driving Indians into crime, such as displacement from plantations to urban squatters like low-cost flats.

“Lack of educational, training and employment opportunities are also issues that need to be addressed through the intervention of relevant government agencies,” said Denison.

The former Suhakam commissioner also said that the authorities should stop looking at Indian community problems as an ethnic concern but of a national issue which requires multi-sector intervention.

“Therefore, there is a need for us to balance between maintaining law and order with winning the hearts and minds of the Indian community by addressing their socio-economic needs, especially among the urban poor.

Recently, Bukit Aman CID chief Hadi Ho Abdullah said that 71% of those involved in gangsterism in Malaysia were from the Indian community.

However, the top cop received brickbats for his statement, with PKR vice president N Surendran calling it a ‘bloated figure’ coming from a “systematic and long-term racial profiling of the Indian community” by enforcement authorities.

“How is this huge figure possible when Indians constitute only seven percent of the population? If this figure is true, it is nothing short of a national crisis,” Surendran was reported saying.