With the first Islamic State group-related terrorist attack in the country, brazen gun killings and brutal machete murders, we can no longer pretend that Malaysia is still as safe and secure as it used to be.
We are beset by the twin perils of rising crimes and the looming threat of terrorism.
So far, the authorities have done little to reassure us of our basic rights to safety, other than providing contrary statistics.
The numbers provided by the Performance Management and Delivery Unit, for example, show that the crime rate index fell by 40 percent between 2009 and 2014.
But according to the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Report for last year, 52 percent of Malaysians felt unsafe walking alone at night.
In response, we were told that such fears were more a case of perception instead of reality. New police statistics, however, seem to prove otherwise.
Between January and April this year, a total of 38,877 crimes were committed, an increase of 4.6 percent during the same period last year, with more burglaries, snatch thefts and car robberies, all of which are lumped together as “property thefts.”
What is more disturbing is the series of audacious shootings by assumed hired killers and ruthless attacks by machete-wielding gangsters in public places.
On the first day of Hari Raya, two young workers of a pub in an upmarket Kuala Lumpur mall were brutally slashed to death while two others suffered horrific hacking injuries.
The dead were Mythuri Raja, 23, who was working as a cashier to earn enough to study medicine, and pub worker Mogan M. Sandran, 21.
About eight hours earlier on the same day, 32-year-old real estate agent Renyce Wong Siew Ling was shot at close range by two assailants on a motorcycle while driving her five children and her maid along a busy road at Taman OUG.
Her eight-year-old daughter, who was in the front passenger seat, was also hit as five shots were fired into Wong’s Toyota Vellfire. The girl is still in hospital in critical condition.
It was obvious that hired killers were involved and such brash crimes reflected poorly on the state of security in the country.
A Chinese daily reported last week that assassins could be contracted for as low as 5,000 ringgit ($1,252) while an automatic pistol could be hired for the killing at the rate of 2,000 ringgit.
Citing sources from an unidentified security firm, the report stated that the guns were smuggled from southern Thailand and Indonesians, Filipinos and locals were among the hired killers.
According to Numbeo, the world’s largest database of user-contributed data about cities and countries worldwide, Malaysia’s latest crime index is 65.51, while our safety index is 34.49. (Zero is the lowest value while 100 is the highest.)
The index for the level of crime is 69.68, which falls under the “High” category while for crimes increasing over the past three years it is 77.09, also regarded as “High.”
The other rankings include worries about being mugged, 72.45 (High); worries about homes being broken into, 68.64 (High); cars stolen, 68.64 (High); fears of being attacked, 61.61 (High); vandalism and theft, 69.94 (High); violent crimes such as assault and armed robbery, 76.28 (High); and for corruption and bribery, 80.37 (Very High).
Under Numbeo’s crime and safety indices, we are grouped in the last 15 countries in the list.
For comparison, South Korea is at the top with a crime index of 14.99 and safety index of 85.01.
As for terrorism, the other chilling threat, it seems that the authorities are finally realizing the gravity of facing homegrown IS terrorists.
A week after the Movida Kitchen, Bar & Club Lounge in Puchong came under a grenade attack which injured eight people, it was confirmed as the first successful IS attack in the country.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar named Md Saifuddin Muji, 28, and Jasanizam Rosni, 33, as the IS-linked suspects who have since gone into hiding.
The IGP also disclosed that two low-ranking police officers were among 15 people arrested over terror-related activities.
One was believed to be planning robberies to raise funds for IS cells and the other was suspected to have been harboring an IS militant.
Low-ranking or not, the arrests of the police officers is highly daunting as it is a damning confirmation of IS’ infiltration into the force.
The IGP also urged the media not to publicize activities or new threats issued by the militants.
But the IS does not need the media to do these things. It is already using cyberspace for this and recruiting new members.
Although the IGP gave his assurance that police had their own strategy of checking and countering terrorism, Malaysians cannot be blamed for believing that the country has already become an IS-training hub.
Two former students of a local private university — Nibras Islam and Rohan Imtiaz — were among seven militants who carried out an attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery Cafe in Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing 22 people. They were among the six gunmen shot dead by security forces. One was captured alive.
On Monday, the Higher Education Ministry held its first meeting with law enforcement agencies to curb the influence of terrorism among students in colleges and universities.
The meeting was held in the wake of Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s an-nouncement that the government was monitoring madrasahs or religious schools for Muslims for terror-related activities.
We can only hope that the latest steps taken are not too little and too late.
By M. Veera Pandiyan
M. Veera Pandiyan is an associate editor at Star Publications in Malaysia. — Ed.
