I refer to the Malaysiakini report 13% spike in violent crimes: police.

Numerous times, caring and concerned citizens and even visitors to this nation once prided for its public safety have expressed their opinions on rising crime through the media. Likewise, the media have unfailingly highlighted - in a responsible and timely manner - the worrying trends and the accompanying perceptions in the country.

Politicians too, who have fallen victims to house break-ins, have even raised the seriousness of the matter in Parliament. Business operators have not been spared either and many have lost huge sums owing to daring robberies committed on our shores.

And today we get the shocking - though expected - raw data of how badly we fared in crime prevention for 2007.

A 160% rise in unarmed gang robberies, a 30% rise in rapes, a 21% rise in night-time house break-ins, a 11% increase in car thefts and many more statistics which should send a chill down our spines. Being ‘worried’ about such trends alone is not going to clear the potential of a further increase in crime in 2008.

Many a frequent traveler will attest that falling victim to street crime or house break-ins is rarely heard of even in neighbouring countries in the region. In many of these cities, we do not witness shoppers clutching handbags for fear of snatch thefts and homes are not barricaded like high-security prisons as is the increasing trend for Malaysian homes. Letting your young daughters walk alone on a shopping spree in a foreign land seems to be an easy decision unlike doing the same back here.

The 'four core areas' that our PM said the police would be focusing on namely re-hiring retired police officers and training new officers to increase the number of personnel by 60,000 by 2011; increasing the number of civilians in the police force (eg, secretarial work); compelling private property owners to install close-circuit cameras (CCTV) and constructing more police stations and beat-bases only further increases the degree of concern.

It raises several unanswered questions. Why are we looking at these four core areas only now? Have not the ‘rakyat’ and politicians been raising the alarm bells since 2004? And while waiting for 2011 for the full remedy to be in place, would we not be continuing to pay the price of crime through the loss of more property and lives?

How is it that while other countries and governments have taken various measures in the past in anticipation of rising crime, we instead have waited for the 160% implosion before considering four core strategies, and that too only now?

We have lost the battle of the drug war; likewise in the case of pirated discs. The Mat and Minah Rempit is another embarrassing saga that we are equally aware of. What about loan sharking, hoarding, profiteering and the works?

Perhaps, rather than merely holding the citizens wholly responsible or blaming them, the government needs to do some serious soul-searching regarding the state we are in. Let honour, honesty and reality prevail. Only then can we see an immediate and effective change in the deteriorating crime state.