KUALA LUMPUR, May 11 ―The head of Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) today refuted the claim that it is Malaysia’s high crime rate which has turned tourists away.

Datuk Hamzah Rahmat said even the Inspector-General of Police said it was “an unfair and lopsided claim as tourists here can freely and safely walk the streets without incident.”

He was commenting on the statement by a crisis management expert who claimed yesterday that Malaysia needed to address perceptions of the country's high crime rate which had turned tourists away.

“As for safety, it is relative to the measures taken by individuals as  no place on Earth can be totally  safe. In any city… dressed to the hilt and standing by the roadside for a long  time will run the risk of being mugged or rolled over by a passing vehicle,” he said in a statement today.

Bert van Walbeek, managing director of crisis prevention company The Winning Edge, said yesterday that Malaysia was not tackling perceptions that the country was crime-ridden and that alcohol cannot be consumed here.

While Hamzah refuted the claim by saying that that alcohol consumption was indeed allowed in the country, he did not address van Walbeek's call to address the perception that alcohol was banned in Malaysia.

“We were told that we are losing tourists from stories in the Internet that one can’t drink beer in  Malaysia. Obviously, the speaker does not know that licence is not required to sell beer in the  country.

“It is available in sundry and coffee shops, and priced about the same as soft drinks in duty free islands such as Langkawi.”

Hamzah also said that van Walbeek’s data was obtained from narrow studies and did not adequately reflect the region.

“The Bangkok-based expatriate is experienced in the hotel and MICE business but was quoting from  a website which sourced an article from another website ranking the most dangerous cities in Asia  based on input by visitors to the website and software to crunch numbers.

“It was not produced from official statistics or comprehensive studies,” Hamzah said.

The Matta president insisted that Kuala Lumpur was one of the “most popular and safest” cities with 12 million foreign visitors expected to visit the capital thanks to “common knowledge and word-of-mouth.”

“The last thing we need is to adopt a siege mentality and go on a defensive to counter perceived threats. Such self-fulfilling prophecy would pose a greater danger,” he said.

Van Walbeek, who is also vice president of Area Business Development at the Asia Pacific for Safehotels Alliance, highlighted worldatlas.com which listed four cities in Malaysia as among the most dangerous cities in Asia ― Kuala Lumpur (second), Petaling Jaya (third), Klang (fifth), and Johor Baru (10th).

The website describes Malaysia’s capital as a city that has “high crime rates”, including snatch theft, pickpockets and serious crimes like murder, rape and robbery, besides tourist-fleecing taxis.