PUTRAJAYA, July 30 — Putrajaya is ready to consider “anything” the police needs to fight serious crime, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today amid growing public alarm over the recent spate of shootings.
This would include providing extra powers under a new law that is expected to be tabled in the next Parliament session in September.
A special working committee comprising the home minister, ministers in the Prime Minister Department and the Inspector-General of Police are now drafting the “extra provisions” that will purportedly give the police more teeth to tackle serious crime.
“I am deeply concerned by recent developments where murders involving firearms can occur in a brazen manner. I understand that this is an issue that touches the people’s feelings and concerns, and they are becoming increasingly worried about their security with the presence of serious crime.
“We are ready to give the police anything it needs in its fight against serious crime,” the prime minister told reporters after chairing a meeting with all state financial leaders here.
Malaysians are becoming increasingly alarmed by the spate of gun-related shootings and murders in the last few days, with the latest high-profile case being the murder of Arab-Malaysian Development Bank (AmBank) founder and financial wizard Hussain Ahmad Najadi in a busy car park in the heart of Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
The close-range shooting of Ahmad Najadi and his wife — who survived the attack — came three days after the attempted murder of anti-crime activist R. Sri Sanjeevan at a traffic light junction in Jempol, Negri Sembilan.
The shootings took place amid waning public confidence in Putrajaya’s anti-crime policies and the police.
Critics of the force have linked the assassination attempt on Sanjeevan’s plan to expose alleged ties between rogue officers and the criminal underworld but IGP Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar denied the allegation. The anti-crime activist was supposed to make the expose this week.
Najib admitted that the police must convince the public that it can deal with the situation. This, the prime minister said, was Putrajaya’s short-term answer to public demand for swift action on gun related crimes although he insisted that the new law would provide immediate answer solution to the problem.
“Immediately the police will have to work under existing laws, what actions can be taken. But as I mention just now, we intend to bring it for the next parliamentary session the provisions that can strengthen the capabilities of the police to act.
“I am not talking about long-term but the immediate,” he said.
The move to provide extra powers to the police will likely strengthen opposition accusations that the Najib government was working towards restoring preventive laws to curb dissent despite its initial pledge for political reform.
Najib’s Cabinet and party colleague, Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, had recently called for the reinstatement of pre-emptive laws after he blamed the rise in crime to the abolition of the Emergency Ordinance (EO).
The prime minister, however, has given his assurance that his government was committed to upholding human rights.
“Whatever extra provisions they (police) need to fight crime we are ready to consider provided that they can guarantee us there will be no power abuse and transgression on human rights,” he said.
