Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said recent spate of high profile crime cases does not mean that the country is not safe. 
 
He said that fear of crime of the result of public perception, not facts, stressing that the crime rate is actually on the downtrend. 

"Two cases do not cover the whole country, if you try to make a fuss out of one or two cases, it will only worsen the situation and create a picture that the country is not safe.

"Perhaps we may need to improve on perception but the reduction in crime was not said by me but by international bodies," he told a press conference in Serdang this afternoon.

NONE Hishammuddin was responding to the   attack  and attempted robbery of Bersih steering committee member Wong Chin Huat ( left ) yesterday an attempted kidnap at Mutiara Damansara.

Stressing that these were both isolated cases, he said that it cannot be extrapolated to the entire country.
 
"Tell me in which country there is no crime?" he asked.

When pointed out that there had been an increase in crime specifically for the area of Petaling Jaya, Hishammuddin acknowledged and said his ministry was prepared to consider new hot spots.

"You must understand when we started with the National Key Results Area (NKRA), we had 50 hot spots and our promise was to reduce street crimes such as snatch theft, it was not focussing on robbery or murder.

"But the public is welcomed to forward their information to us and we can consider changing those areas to hot spots.

He added that the government had taken note of serious crimes particular in the case of Nayati's kidnapping and is moving to address the matter.

"Nayati's case caught out attention and the cabinet has agreed last week to increase the omnipressence of the authorities at schools, especially when students are going to class and going home," he said.

He said the government is looking in deploying authorities including Rela during those periods and will work with parents and other organisations to enforce such a move.
 
Asked if the Home Ministry will comply with Selangor's request for auxiliary police to be deployed throughout the state, Hishammuddin said he was prepared to meet the state government to discuss the matter.