Criminology team warned of violent crime surge
Criminologist Prof Dr P Sundramoorthy led a research commissioned by the government to study the condition of crime and policing in the country.
(fz.com) – “We recommended that there is a need to retain the EO, but we clearly spelt out that it needs to be amended to give zero room or zero tolerance for any abuse or error,” Sundramoorthy said.
Sometime in June, before the public alarm over criminal attacks reached its current peak, a research team from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) had warned of a “significant surge” in violent crime.
Citing its studies, the team head, criminologist Prof Dr P Sundramoorthy especially cautioned of crimes involving gangs and recidivist, or repeat offenders.
In particular, he pointed to the repeal of the Emergency Ordinance (EO) last year, said to have allowed some 2,000 criminals to be released.
Emphasising the need for such a preventive law, Sundramoorthy said: “If we don’t decide soon to act on it then be prepared to see further disruption of peace and safety.”
This was before the shocking shootings of MyWatch chairman R Sri Sanjeevan on July 27, and of Arab-Malaysian Development Bank founder Hussain Ahmad Najadi two days later; and before the series of highly publicised gunfire and explosive assaults in Penang over the last week, and one more death involving a bomb in Tumpat, Kelantan.
Since these attacks, which have gripped the nation, Sundramoorthy has stood his ground.
“I don’t think there is any other period in the history of Malaysia since after the insurgency (which ended in the 1960s) that there has been so many shootings,” he said when met by fz.com.
Need to retain EO for public safety
In 2010, the criminology team from USM was commissioned by the government to study crime and policing, with emphasis on trends and patterns as well as strategies for crime control.
The team analysed reported crime data up till 2009, before the National Key Result Areas (NKRA) on crime was introduced.
One of its major findings was that from 2000 to 2009, there was an average annual growth rate in violent crime of about 13.4%.
However, the percentage of murder cases remained about the same – two to three cases per 100,000 people – from the 1970s to 2009. (Interestingly, rape cases rose from two to three cases in the 1970s, to eight to nine cases by 2009.)
“We recommended that there is a need to retain the EO, but we clearly spelt out that it needs to be amended to give zero room or zero tolerance for any abuse or error,” Sundramoorthy said.
