92-Day Countdown to 13GE – Malaysia as “safest country in Southeast Asia” meaningless when Malaysians live in fear everyday of worsening crime -Lim Kit Siang January 9, 2013

92-Day Countdown to 13GE – Malaysia as “safest country in Southeast Asia” meaningless when Malaysians live in fear everyday of worsening crime

-Lim Kit Siang

January 9, 2013

This is what a top Barisan Nasional mainstream media (BN MSM) editorial officer blogged yesterday:

“Why are these criminals still going about their merry way robbing and hurting people at traffic lights, at their homes and everywhere?
“Why are they still so bold?
“Let me tell you why — because THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH IT and NOBODY IS STOPPING THEM OR CAN STOP THEM ..or WANT TO STOP THEM.
“I’ll be honest — I am living in fear. My family is living in fear. And we are not the only ones.
“Not only residents of housing estates fear of being attacked anytime, anyday.
“People…people driving in their cars..people walking…
“You fear when you arrive at the gate of your home — if anyone has been following you or lying in wait.
“You are just so fearful.
“In Section 16, PJ where my sister and her family live, occupants of nearly every household along the surrounding roads, have been attacked in one form or another.
“Police reports have been made..and yet…the attacks went on unabated.
“I’d like to ask the police this — what are our men in blue doing to prevent/deter these criminals from their vicious spree?
“I mean, really really seriously deterring them…..
“Yes yes yes…they’ve bought more motorcycles for policemen to patrol the streets…Visibility does help to reduce crime.
“But…then, these vicious attacks have continued and they happen when the policemen are not around.
“Let me ask — how many of these criminals have been nabbed?
“You feel the threat of attack near or at your home, you feel unsafe outside your home. You feel unsafe anywhere. No place is safe …
“Just going out in your car is no longer safe. You worry when you arrive at traffic lights. You worry when you cross the road..”

The top BN MSM editorial officer was blogging in response to a heinous crime reported in yesterday’s New Straits Times (p 13) “Attacked and robbed on busy street – Traumatic: Woman in car punched and left unconscious but no one came to couple’s aid” about Air Asia X pilot, Capt Gurcharan Singh Sidhu and his wife Datin Arunee Dee who were attacked in their car at a traffic-light junction in Jalan P. Ramlee in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday evening and robbed by two men on a motor-cycle.
But there is no surcease or pause in these heinous crimes as today’s New Straits Times carried another report “Foreigner loses RM35,000 to snatch thieves – IN SHOCK: Mother of two was at a traffic light junction when 6 men on motorcycles attacked” (p. 27), about a pregnant Australian citizen who was left in shock after her car window was smashed and her handbag grabbed when she stopped at a traffic light junction near Bandar Utama in Petaling Jaya on Tuesday morning.
As the top BN MSM editorial officer blogged yesterday:

“This is all so sad that it is the same old story over and over again… and this kind of crime has happened in many locations around the Klang Valley, notably near or at junctions with traffic lights…
“I despair looking at out neighbourhoods all guarded.
“This is not normal at all.
“This sense of fear is not normal.
“These are critical times. Dangerous times.”

It is meaningless for Barisan Nasional leaders, whether the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister or the Home Minister to boast about the achievements of the various transformation programmes and Malaysia becoming the “darling of investors” because Malaysia is recognised as the safest country in Southeast Asia under the Global Peace Index (GPI) 2011 and 2012 when ordinary Malaysians live in fear of crime.
This deplorable state of affairs where Malaysians live in fear of worsening crime everyday cannot and must not continue – one powerful reason why there must be a change of federal government in Putrajaya in 13GE.