The opposition leader has warned Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi not to use the high crime rate plaguing the country as an election gimmick.

In a statement today, Lim Kit Siang said the PM’s announcement of a multi-prong strategy to combat crime lacks seriousness and conviction.

“They appear to be just election gimmicks to give Malaysians a false sense of security that something is being done to fight crime with the approach of the general election,” he said.

Concerns over the country’s crime rate was recently brought to light by the police when they revealed that violent crimes increased by 13.4 percent from last year.

The statistics also revealed that rape cases were up by about 30 percent and gang robbery by a whopping 160 percent. The average increase in overall crime in 2007 was 7.1 percent.

In an immediate response, Abdullah said this trend was worrying and has designated more officers to patrol the streets and close-circuit television (CCTV) cameras will be installed in buildings to enhance security.

According to Lim, the crime rate had shot up by an even more alarming 45 percent since Abdullah came into power four years ago.

“When Abdullah became PM in October 2003, the crime situation was already out of control which was why one of his first reform promises and measures was the establishment of the Royal Police Commission (RPC) to reduce crime.

“After four years, Malaysia today is even more unsafe to its citizens, visitors, tourists or investors because of endemic crime,” he asserted.

‘What a shame’

The DAP veteran said the remedial steps to resolve this problem that was announced by the PM had included the recommendations already found in the RPC’s findings.

“One of the anti-crime strategies is to appoint civilians to administrative positions and thereby release police personnel for their main duties.

“This is actually Recommendation No. 78 out of the 125 recommendations of the RPC report to create an efficient, accountable, incorruptible, professional world-class police service.

According to the report, the move to outsource functions presently performed by uniformed personnel in the police to civilians and re-deploying police personnel would immediately release 35,000 police personnel to actual crime fighting.

The commission provided a time-line for the implementation of this proposal to be done in phases, completion by May 2007'.

“This is January 2008 and the PM is still talking about this proposal of ‘appointing civilians to administrative positions’. What a shame and disappointment!” he exclaimed.

The other strategies announced by Abdullah include the use of contract policemen, installing more CCTV cameras and fast-tracking recruitment.