Politicizing Crime - Dave Avran

Pic credit: Mior Azfar Mior Karulbaidam

It is indeed tragic that Irene Ong Ai Siam was killed in an attempted robbery which horribly turned into a murder. Four suspects have been arrested in connection with the incident at Bukit Gasing. The four, aged between 16 and 18, were detained by police at Flat Sri Medan and Flat Bukit Gasing Indah within two days of the incident.

Following the murder, the Police have announced that a mobile beat base will be stationed in Bukit Gasing from today Saturday 27^th April to ensure safety. The mobile beat base would operate for six hours every day from 7am to 10am and from 4pm to 7pm. It will also operate on weekends and public holidays.

In collaboration with residents associations, the police have also created a volunteer group comprising joggers in the area to mentor those who have just taken up the activity.

Now comes the even more tragic part. Instead of allowing the grieving family space to deal with their loss, we have some people with vested interests who have swooped to take advantage of this sad incident to put the grieving family into the national spotlight to further their own agenda.  

Read about it here.

    

After 56 years as a nation, one would have thought that Malaysians would have learnt our lessons and learnt to live together. As we seek more democratic freedoms, we must be prepared to give and take without politicians and their agents resorting to the peddling of hate.

This is a general election where the call for change must be through the ballot box and not through the politicizing of unfortunate victims of crime.

The Spanker accepts that it is a valid election tactic to stoke the emotions of the rakyat so that they will vote for you but those doing the instigation must also know when to pull their punches so that things do not go overboard.

Politicians, well known for their oratory capabilities, owe it to the country to make sure that in their politicking, they also condemn such acts of crime and senseless violence which are simply not the Malaysian way.

Many politicians on both sides of the divide are really of no help as many only want to pursue their own agendas by hijacking the current red hot issue of crime as a free ride to popularity, given the fast looming general elections.

Bashing the Government, its various agencies and the cops is easy peasy but public apathy has also been identified as one of the reasons why criminals have become more brazen in committing crimes. Fighting crime isn’t the prerogative of the police alone.

There is no doubt that the responsibility for fighting crime rests squarely on the shoulders of the PDRM. That’s what they’re paid for right? The truth of the matter is that there are simply not enough cops to cover every single area.

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