Chow Kon Yeow: 曹观友

The Bernama has the following story about Pak Lah.
PETALING JAYA, June 14 (Bernama) — Malaysia has taken serious measures to curb human trafficking, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Thursday.

The prime minister said the government had drafted a Bill on human trafficking that would impose severe penalties on the perpetrators of the crime.

He said the Bill had been sent to Parliament and hoped it would be passed in the next sitting of the Dewan Rakyat.

Many asked how Pak Lah could make such a mistake. The bill was approved last month. In fact the MP for Jasin was about to continue his debate on the bill when MP for Batu Gajah kicked up the “bocor” fiasco.

No surprise. The Prime Minister was almost never in Parliament.

The Dewan Rakyat met for 27 days in the first session of the year. It started on March 19 when the Yang Di Pertua Agong declared the session opened and delivered His Majesty’s first royal address to Parliament.

The Prime Minister was there to handover the government’s policy speech to His Majesty.

The Dewan Rakyat continued to sit for 26 days in March, April and May.

Out of 27 days of sitting, the Prime Minister was only present on the opening day.

He was not there to answer a single question during the Q&A session every morning.

He was neither there to give Ministerial reply on behalf of the three ministries that he heads; Prime Minister’s Department, Internal Security Ministry and the Finance Ministry.

On several days during this period he was on official visits to Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Kenya. He was in the country on other days officiating opening of conferences but never in Parliament.

I think he has the worst attendance.

Yesterday Taiwanese investor Huang Zhi Sheng blew his top. He was angry that his company located in Juru, Penang was so unlucky that they met with two robberies within a year. Worse still, he was given the run around when he tried to lodge a police report. Police finally had their statements recorded after three and a half hours.

Huang also threatened to close down his operation here and move away because of his frustration with the lack of security in Penang. He also said he would also get his fellow Taiwanese friends to withdraw their investment here.

Chief Minister Dr Koh Tsu Koon was shocked by Huang’s outburst. But he added that the authorities have not received any complaint from Huang himself.

Dr Koh was also very gung-ho in his response.

“If Penang’s security is that bad, why do investors keep coming to Penang?”

A few days earlier, he also said that the recent spate of robberies involving Penang factories have not affected investors’ confidence.

Anyway, that is the usual response one will get from Yang Amat Berhormat.

But statistic from the Royal Malaysian Police showed that there was a 30 percent increase in crime rate in 2006 over the previous year.

A total of 12407 cases were reported in Penang during 2005. Year 2006 saw an increase of 3822 cases to 16229.

The greatest concern today is the fear of crime and this must be addressed. Failing which, our economy would be affected. Our homes would also be under threat and our families undermined.

Penang ranks fourth in the country in term of crime rate. This is not a record that we want to defend.

After a serious of violent crimes in Johor Baru, community leaders there are calling for a 100,000 signatures campaign to get the government to resolve crime and restore a sense of security to the people.

This morning, Penang DAP leaders held a press conference to highlight the problem. Chong Eng, who is a vocal spokesperson on crime and security in Parliament, called on Prime Minister to establish the IPCMC to address the various concerns of the people when dealing with the police.

I quoted the Royal Commission report which showed that 86 percent of the respondents from all races are extremely worried about crime happening in their neighbourhood. In fact we read about crime happening every day in the newspaper.

I also took the statistics from the Royal Police website to illustrate our concern that it is no longer safe in Malaysia.

The people are facing a double jeopardy. First the crime rate has increased by over 12 percent but the success rate in resolving crime reported has dropped by a whopping 12 percent at 36.8 percent. This is way below the international average of about 48 percent.

The past few years PDRM had managed to achieve about 48 percent in resolving crimes reported. I am not happy with this success rate. It means 52 percent of the crimes are not solved and the victims of such crimes have to suffer in vain.

But whenever I raised this matter in Parliament, the then Deputy Internal Security Minister Noh Omar would justified that our success rate is on par with international standard and there should not be a matter of concern. This is rubbish as thousands would feel disappointed that the culprits who robbed, raped, stole and made crimes are left scot-free. (Well, recently Noh’s brother was charged for drug trafficking at the Kota Kinabalu Airport)

I told the Malayiakini reporter that the country needed a full-time Minister to tackle crimes. And Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is too busy as Prime Minister, Finance Minister and the CEO of the country to tackle crimes as well as the Internal Security Minister. Pak Lah should resign as Internal Security Minister if he is unable to fight crimes and restore peace and stability in the country. A full-time Minister must be appointed to fight crime and fight it fast.