What struck me most in my first night of visit to Xiamen, Fujian is the confident assurance given by the local guide that visitors can go about the town at night as it is very safe from crime.
When can we say the same to tourists in Malaysia?
Dare we tell the same thing to visitors in Kuala Lumpur, Johor Baru, Penang or even in the main towns in the country?
Unfortunately, there is no sense of shame or failure whether among the Home Minister, the Deputy Minister or the Inspector-General of Police at the galloping crime index in the country in the past five years of Abdullah premiership that it is even being criticised by former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad when Abdullah had started his administration trying to demonstrate the big difference with his predecessor by establishing a Royal Police Commission to create an efficient, incorruptible, professional and world-class police service to keep crime low.
Now, all these Abdullah promises have turned to ashes – and the greatest indictment of the failure of the Abdullah premiership in meaningful police reforms is his lack of political will and courage to set up the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) as a sole legacy of reform for his ill-fated sixth premiership.l