by Maclean Patrick
The ferocity and fervour with which UMNO parliamentarians
came out to chastise DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng over his alleged
remarks concerning Johor’s safety is similar to those shown to PAS deputy
president Mat Sabu over his comments concerning Bukit Kepong.
There are no real facts to justify the attacks made via the
main-stream media nor through the government-controlled newspapers. What was
most likely a verbal statement by an opposition leader has now been spun to
mean other things aside from what it really was.
Even so, it has cast the spotlight on what is really the
current state of crime rate in Malaysia, not just Johor. How true are the
government's gushings that things are under control and the rate is on a
decided downtrend?
When
crime statistics are classified...
Early this year, Bukit Aman denied NGO Women’s Aid
Organisation (WAO) access to the 2010 Crime Statistics booklet prepared by its
Sexual Crimes and Child Abuse division. “We requested for it on March 3, but
got a reply that they cannot release these statistics as they have been
classified as confidential,” said Ivy Josiah, WAO executive director. “Why
should statistics on sexual crimes and crimes against children be
‘confidential’? Isn’t the request a basic one?”
This is indeed strange, why are Crime Statistics deemed
confidential? Why are official figures kept away from the public eye? Crime
Statistics are compiled by the police and by right up till 2005-2006, these
statistics were available until they mysteriously disappeared from public view.
Now, the 2010 Crime Statistics has even been classified.
So can it really be untrue that crime rates are high
especially in states like Johor that sees heavy traffic of rich Singaporeans on
daily shopping excursions? With so little transparency, can Malaysians be
blamed for doubting the government's word that the crime rate is actually
falling?
Double
standards
As for Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's inference
that Guan Eng wanted to scare away Singaporean investors from investing in
Johor, how valid is this or is it mere politicising? Yet, throwing good sense
to the wind, the mainstream media spun his words as the gospel truth and the
prime argument to lash out at Guan Eng.
But did Guan Eng really meant to scare away Singaporeans from
investing in Johor by saying that the place was “not safe”? Would investors be
so easily scared? Or was Guan Eng injecting some black humor into what is very
likely and very sadly, the black truth?
And if Guan Eng is to be pinned down for his Johor comment,
what about the one made by the head of the hawkers association, Abdullah Md
Yusuf. Abdullah said that since Penang was taken over and governed by the DAP,
the Malays have been victimised and not treated fairly as compared with the
other groups. Why is Abdullah allowed to get away with such a provoking and
racist-tinged statement? Others have been charged for Sedition and jailed under
the Internal Security Act for stating less.
Smear
campaign like Mat Sabu's
If UMNO is all out to prove that Johor is truly safe, then why
not have the police release the crime statistics state by state to the public.
Guan Eng would then have to defend himself by releasing all the various
statistics to prove what he says is true - that the Malay businesses are not
victimised in Penang and in fact far better off than when Gerakan was in
charge. Isn't fairer and more constructive for the people?
At the end of the day, it is all a game of perception and the
goal is to build the image that all things non-UMNO is bad.
Johor is the UMNO heart-land and the DPM is himself a
Johorean, thus it seems fitting to play the 'Malay patriot' defending his home
state. Whether or not Johoreans are simple-minded enough to believe and vote
for him out of hero-worship remains to be seen. But this certainly has all the
signs of a smear campaign to kickstart the GE-13 and in true UMNO fashion, it
is meant to ignite the fire of hatred against Pakatan.
The
battle for Johor heats up
And this will be the pattern taken by BN and UMNO in the
run-up to GE13. Starved of real issues to present before the people because
they have shirked undertaking real reforms, BN will play up each and every
squeak from the Pakatan leaders. Facts and figures will be tossed aside and
hidden, while mere opinions from pro-UMNO individuals will be played up to the
max.
The worse is yet to come as UMNO scrambles to win over the
Malay vote. UMNO needs to turn 5% of the Malay vote back into its favour in
order for BN to gain two-thirds of the 222 seats in Parliament. And to
accomplish this 5% swing, they will resort to every trick in the book,
discarding honour and truth. Indeed, the battle has begun to win the hearts and
minds of the Malay heart-land.
Source : MC
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