Kala betul aok betul2 nak Polis lebih berhemah dalam mengambil tindakan, kenapa sekelumit pun aok tak sentuh hal budak Melayu di Perlis kena tembak dengan Polis tu?
Koi setuju dengan pos rodonc baik koi Rahimin yang menyentuh tindak-tanduk kamu semua ini. Kami pun sama inginkan keadilan, kami turut menentang trigger-happy attitude yang dimainkan pihak Polis yang terlibat. Tetapi sikap kamu yang CAUVINIS dan menutup mata bila kaum lain terkena membuatkan aku rasa nak MUNTAH!!!
Petikan dari The Star Online, koi terbeli suratkabar ni pagi tadi sebab nak cari keje kunun-kununnya..
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Wednesday November 18, 2009
Policing with passion and compassion
Comment by BARADAN KUPPUSAMY
The Malaysian police are hard-pressed to bring the crime rate down but the problem needs a holistic solution and must not just be viewed as a law and order issue.
THE fatal shooting of five Indian youths between the ages of 17 and 24 in Klang last week shocked many Malaysians, especially the Indian community and has raised numerous questions, mostly centred on whether the use of force was justified.
The police have said they were chasing criminals with past records speeding away in a stolen car and that the alleged crooks were firing at the policemen who had to act to stop their escape, curb crime and protect bystanders.
The MIC, in a swift rebuttal, has submitted a memorandum to the Government urging that police use only fair force against suspected criminals and use every effort to apprehend them before using lethal force.
The party wants an independent investigation into the incident echoing similar demands made by NGOs, MPs and other political parties who all say the youths could have been arrested and put on trial consistent with their crimes, if any.
While an independent probe into the shooting would reassure some quarters, the larger issues, especially the nexus between crime and Indian youths is longstanding and needs intelligent and permanent solutions.
It is a fact that a high proportion of Indian youths, in some age-groups up to 40%, are involved in crime compared to the Indian population of about 8%.
The high percentage is often attributed to rural urban migration, poverty, lack of skills and lack of upward mobility and the general weariness of Indian youths who find many doors for advancement closed to them.
In addition to the ennui, their age of entry into the world of crime has also dropped dramatically to as young as 14 and 15, taking to crime in little ways like snatching handbags before graduating into hardcore criminals.
Therefore, there is a serious and urgent need to address the special circumstances connecting Indian youths with crime – the root causes, the linkages between sociological conditions and crime and above all ways have to be found to severe the connection.
After so many shootings and investigations, it is clear that Indian youths need help to stay away from crime, to develop positive values and build meaningful careers.
Considering the circumstances, there is a need for restrain from all sides, police included. The Govern-ment and its related agencies should re-look at the core reasons why Indian youths are driven to crime.
Klang MP Charles Santiago was right when he said a permanent solution to the nexus between Indian youths and crime is not tough policing but job creation and skill acquisition.
Add to that, hope and upwardly mobile opportunities and a believe that they too can have a meaningful career outside of crime.
At the moment the highest ambition an Indian youth leaving secondary school can aim for is as factory worker, lorry driver, security guard or street vendor – jobs that require few skills and don’t take a youth far in our highly competitive society.
This and other shootings not only tarnish the image of the police as a trigger happy force but there is also a political dimension which the beleagured Barisan Nasional Government is left to answer.
The public hold the Government accountable for the excess of the police and other agencies and in a situation where the once-alienated Indian community is beginning to warm to the Government of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, the shooting is a major setback, politically.
These incidents cause public doubts and give ammunition to political opponents at a time when the authorities are mending fences by resolving long-standing problems involving public health, welfare and citizenship.
No doubt the Government is coming down hard on the police to bring down the soaring crime rate and police have been taking numerous measures to curb crime, some of which are showing early results.
The police are under pressure to show results in the battle against crime but success should not be at the expense of the citizens’ rights.
But battling crime is not just the job of the police.
The Government, too, is deeply involved along with all its other resources and increasingly it is clear that success against crime lies in a holistic approach and not a simple “law and order” solution.
The simplistic “law and order” approach does not cover the complex sociological origins of crime and its ramifications.
The “law and order” approach has to be complemented with job creation, skills training and career building especially for vulnerable youths who would otherwise see crime as an escape from the drudgery they are trapped in.
A lasting solution, besides police action, is for the Government to take proactive measures to create opportunities for the Indians, the poor and the lower middle classes.
Only then can we balance tough policing with compassion for the under-privileged who, because of dire circumstances, have taken to crime.
