So it has been confirmed! There is no Witness Protection Act and no Witness Protection Bill has ever been tabled in Parliament.

This was stated by Deputy Internal Security Minister Fu Ah Kiow when replying to a question from Karpal Singh (DAP - Bukit Gelugor) who wanted to know if such an Act has been tabled in the Dewan Rakyat.

"I would like to recall what was said by (Minister in the Prime Minister's Department) Nazri Abdul Aziz that a Witness protection Act was tabled in the Parliament. Is it true?" asked Karpal.

He also wanted to know if the government is planning to introduce such an Act as a protection for witnesses who come forward to testify in court.

Responding, Fu (BN-Kuantan) said: "As for now, we do not have a Witness Protection Act. However, the bill is being studied by the government."

Nazri raised eyebrows earlier this month when he said that whistleblowers in the VK Lingam tape will be protected under the Witness Protection Bill which was recently tabled in the Parliament.

He had said the bill provides protection for witnesses so that their identity could be kept a secret, while administrative and other operational means can be used to effect changes in their personal details.

However, he came under attack from various quarters who claimed that no such bill was has been tabled in the Parliament.

Once realising his mistake, Nazri has apologised for the error and put the blame on his press secretary for failing to issue a clarification to the media.

5,443 women snatch theft victims

In a separate development, Internal Security Ministry's statistics show that some 5,443 women have fallen victims to snatch thefts as of July this year.

A total 8,150 and 8,194 women became victims of snatch thefts in 2005 and 2006 respectively.

Fu Ah Kiow (BN-Kuantan) said that the ministry, together with the police force had taken several steps to eradicate crimes in the country.

"We deploy more policemen to areas where the crime rate has been increasing, launch major operations to arrest criminals and use more patrol cars at busy places," Fu said.

"We also form a close relationship with local councils to launch awareness campaigns that educate the public on their role to curb crime."

Fu was replying a query from Tan Lian Hoe who asked the internal security minister to state the statistics of women who had fallen victims to snatch theft, robbery and murder in 2005, 2006 and 2007 respectively and the action taken to ensure public safety.