Police pack and leave for fear of high crime rates?

KUALA LUMPUR: A police beat base in the Chow Kit area of downtown Kuala Lumpur was closed down because it was in a location that was considered unsafe, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar. [The Star, 16/10/08]

Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar (image) was confronted by Opposition MP Dr Lo’ Lo’ Mohamad Ghazali (PAS-Titiwangsa) over the latest closure of a police beat base in the heart of Kuala Lumpur's notorious red light district of Chow Kit.

A police beat base is a kiosk, manned by a few police officers with the intention to establish a police presence over a designated area.

The Titiwangsa MP had asked why was the police beat base removed from an area where vice-related activities and crimes were rife. He also demanded an explanation by the Home Ministry over the actions taken by the police so far to curb such activities.

The expected course of action by the police is the exact reverse. In fact, higher crime rates should prompt more police beat bases to be constructed, does it not?

The Home Minister, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar reasoned that the beat base had to be relocated because it was situated in a dirty area; hence the possibility of a contagious disease that could endanger the police officers on duty. Furthermore, he assured that the police were already looking for a new location for the beat base in order to give “guaranteed and continued service to the public.”

The only "guaranteed service to the public" is the growing incompetence displayed by a force that has the royal mandate to serve and protect.

Dr. Mohd Hatta Ramli (PAS-Kuala Krai) also joined in the fray when he suggested otherwise - that the police were actually afraid of the criminals rather than being overly cautious over their health or civic cleanliness. He also said that Syed Hamid's response to the issue was not rational nor satisfactory.

"The police are there to make a place safe. If they themselves are scared and run away, then how can we hope for others to want to be there? It is embarrassing and that is why the criminals will always be there,” he said in Parliament. [The Star, 16/10/08]

If the police themselves are afraid of the criminals in Chow Kit, what hope is there for the ordinary Malaysian?

Indeed, Syed Hamid Albar never ceases to amaze the Malaysian public with his 'intelligent' reasoning in order to piece an excuse of justifying negligence. The Home Minister argued that Chow Kit was a filthy place filled with trash.

True but why not just summon the City Hall to clean up the trash?

Syed Hamid also pointed out that due to the large amount of trash, the Chow Kit area poses the risk of a contagious disease. The only contagious disease known to exist in Chow Kit are sexually-transmitted ones. After all, Chow Kit is notorious for its brothels and prostitution rings.

Of course, unless Syed Hamid is trying to imply that the police officers stationed there also indulge in such "recreations" when off-duty?

The Home Minister owes an explanation to the Malaysian people; the police cannot just hide in their excuses of excessive trash or infectious diseases to keep themselves from fulfilling their duty to uphold the law and security. In Chow Kit or anywhere else, the only trash that Malaysians are truly concerned about are the criminals who still roam freely in the streets when they should be behind bars.

But then again, if there was truly a risk of a contagious disease, why only save the police, Syed Hamid?