Day: October 15, 2010

By Zairil Khir Johari

Stealing money from the poor. Seriously.

I have refrained from making direct comments about the mindless cacophony UMNO has been trumpeting about the alleged use of gambling-derived income for state-sponsored aid programmes for senior citizens and the poor in Penang.

In my previous post, I made a passing observation on the issue, which I felt at the time was merely the latest in a long line of ‘baseless allegations of the week’, and that the matter would soon meet its natural demise. In any case, how many times can you tell the same lie and hope to get away with it?

Quite a few times, as it turns out. One, two, three sessions have so far been organized to steal money from the poor.
Continue reading “What’s Worse Than Corruption?”

When the Dzaiddin Royal Police Commission submitted its final report in May 2005, it said that Malaysia’s reputation as a safe country was “seriously dented” by the “dramatic increase” in the incidence of crime in the past few years and that “Malaysians in general, the business sector and foreign investors grew increasingly concerned with the situation”.

The Royal Commission warned that “if the trend continues, there would be major social and economic consequences for Malaysia”.

The Royal Police Commission was referring to the “dramatic increase” in the crime index from 121,176 cases in 1997 to 156,455 cases in 2004, which registered an increase of 29 per cent in eight years.

As a result, the Royal Police Commission proposed a sustained nation-wide drive against crime “until crime levels have reached a point considered no longer alarming”, with an immediate target of “a minimum 20 per cent decrease in crimes” in all categories of crime within the first 12 months after the Report.
Continue reading “Ex-top cop Mat Zain’s Open Letter is testimony that criminal justice system had further deteriorated after 2005 Dzaiddin Police Royal Commission report”

The answer to the issue posed in the topic in tonight’s forum is quite a foregone conclusion.

Two questions answered in Parliament this week are most pertinent in throwing light on public perceptions and confidence in the police system in the country.

On the first day of Parliament on Monday on Oct. 11, in reply to my question, the Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein defended the police force against criticisms of inaction in the murder case of cosmetics millionaire Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya and three others, denying that past reports lodged on the main suspects in the murder were neglected.

Hishammuddin said six police reports had been lodged against the two lawyer-brother suspects between 2005 and 2010 – five involved fraud and one involved a missing person report. Investigation into three of the six cases have been wrapped up while one of the cases is undergoing trial.
Continue reading “Every day for past 10 years, more than 3 persons missing who cannot be located or 40% of missing persons reported to police since 2000 as compared to statistics of over 99% of missing persons located by Australian Police”