IIUM lecturer Prof Datuk Seri Dr Syed Arabi Idid said the results of the nationwide study, conducted between April 6 and 14, showed that crime had surpassed economic woes as the main worry.
“While the results of a survey in March 2008 found that the state of the economy was the major anxiety among Malaysians, this has slowly given way to concern over crime,” he said.
However, in April, there was a drop in perception to 15% from 25% recorded in March.
Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) vice-chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said police bashing would not help solve the problem, but sharing and implementing ideas in preventing and solving it was the preferred approach.
He thus called on all Malaysians from all levels of society to be united as one in combating crime.
The statement by Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye is nothing new. It is a very general view without any solutions. Police bashing by certain segments of society stems from frustrations. It is not because the people hate the police. After all these years, nothing concrete has come out of all the discussions, studies, KPIs, etc.
The rising crime and insecurity of the people is not a matter of perception. It is reality.
I think it is about time we skip the rhetorics and seriously make an effort to address this problem. I think after years of conducting studies, ideas, discussions, forums, KPIs, indexes, etc. is enough already.
What is the solution then? How come things are deteriorating?
How often do we see this?
or this?
Meanwhile the people have to do this:
Tell me, what else can the public do to protect ourselves? What options do we have?
The criminals' arsenal:
The public?
 |
| Pepper spray |
Obviously, the public are sitting ducks for the criminals.
More upsetting news:
Steps to avoid rape and robbery
The latest discussion on Malaysians Against Rape, Assault & Snatch (MARAH) revolves around the fact that criminals are now targeting foreigners and tourists as well as Malaysian women for brutal acts of robbery and rape.
A 25 year-old American teacher was recently robbed and raped by a bogus taxi driver after she finished her shopping at a mall.
She got into the cab and the driver picked up another man a short distance away. She was then taken on an 80km terror ride from Mutiara Damansara to a house in Sungai Pelek, Sepang.
During the journey, she was robbed and one of her two abductors raped her. She eventually managed to escape and sought the assistance of passers-by before lodging a police report.
In another incident in Rawang, two Austrian sisters were viciously attacked and robbed when several criminals slashed them in Templer Park, then ran off with their passports and belongings.
Perhaps we should really look at socials issues more seriously. Everything that happens has a cause. As we know, some of the known causes for crime are poverty, greed, unemployment & substance abuse.
In Buddhism there is also mention of principles of government. For instance, one of the duties of an emperor is to share wealth to the needy. Buddhism recognizes the importance of wealth in worldly society. Poverty and need are important causes of crimes and social evils, and it is considered the responsibility of the state or government to look after and apportion wealth to poor citizens and to remove poverty from the land. To do this, many methods are required, in keeping with each situation, especially creating opportunities for the people to pursue honest livelihoods, giving career support, allocating funds and equipment, as well as preventing and controlling unfair and wrongful methods, exploitation, etc. We can see from the Buddhist viewpoint that the state has a major role in the economy, unlike the economics of liberalism in which the state has only a minor economic role.
The quote above is an excerpt from my previous post:
Business Buddhist Ethics
