Only five months ago, the police were touting a 'zero crime' policy but that strategy has apparently failed with the crime rate soaring 40 percent so far this year.

Malaysians were shocked by the revelation that there had been a sharp 40 percent surge in the crime rate in Kuala Lumpur this year, said Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang.

"Malaysians can still remember reading news reports in November last year of the police boasting 'there are virtually no more cases of snatch theft and wayside robbery in several crime-prone areas in the city, including the golden triangle'," said Lim.

The police then had attributed this to the presence of senior cops in patrolling the streets.

Yesterday, Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharum said he was seeking an explanation for the dramatic pike in the crime rate, which coincides with the start of Visit Malaysia Year 2007.

The minister said the rise in crime was due to, among others, bag snatch thefts, gambling and vice activities such as prostitution.

Malaysia is aiming to boost tourist arrivals to 20.1 million in 2007, up from some 17.5 million last year.

Inept and corrupt

Like Johari, Lim is asking similar questions. He wants to know why the new police strategy to reduce crimes was not only so short-lived, but worst still, counter-productive.

"Have the senior police officers been pulled out of patrolling the streets, which had been given so much publicity as the new strategy to increase police presence to fight crime?"

The veteran opposition lamented that not only was there no visible improvement in the crime situation, there was also a rapid deterioration in the law-and-order situation with "Malaysians, visitors and investors living under increasing fear of crime whether in the streets, public places or privacy of their homes".

The government has been battling a soaring crime rate amidst criticism that the country's poorly-paid police force is inept and corrupt.

According to official statistics, the number of criminal incidents jumped 45.1 percent from 2003 to 2006, with 232,620 criminal cases recorded last year.

Last Thursday, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi declared an all-out war against crime.