The government must not fault the media for reporting incidents of crime and should instead stop  “spinning” the facts about the situation, said the DAP’ PJ Utara parliamentarian Tony Pua.

NONE “The media has a responsibility to report (crime) to ensure that members of the public take the necessary precautions. This helps decrease the chances of crime happening,” he noted.

He called on the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) and the Home Ministry to be transparent by releasing detailed crime statistics according to district and type of offence committed, before blowing their trumpet on how well the fight to contain crime is progressing.

“(Pemandu chief) Idris Jala claimed the police, Home Ministry and Pemandu have been very transparent in acknowledging there are 157,891 crime cases reported in 2011. If the government is so confident, why is it refusing to provide detailed statistics?” asked Pua.

Idris, a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department had told English-language daily Star in an interview published yesterday that “the media does have a role to play”.

Minister in Prime Minister's Department Idris Jala “They should work closely with the police on reporting the cases that they have successfully solved. Sometimes, we need to arrest the doom and gloom by also focusing on the positives,” he was quoted as saying.

“If the statistics are not convincing, perhaps then we should try to dwell into how the police were able to bring the crime rates down in a specific area, for example, one of the hotspots.”

Pemandu has repeatedly claimed that, under the Government Transformation Plan (GTP), the crime rate has dropped by at least 40 percent in certain hotspots.

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussien has also sung the same tune, saying that concerns about increasing incidents of violent crime are only a matter of “perception” .

           

However, the statistics have come under scrutiny of late with news reports on kidnapping, rape and assaults.

‘Provide an explanation’

Pua, who has been on the ministry’s case to obtain detailed statistics of crime reduction, said he has received three contradictory responses to date.

He first received a written parliamentary reply in 2010, which stated the total number of crime cases in Selangor as 54,443 for 2009.

Two days later, a written reply to a similar question - which had sought a detailed breakdown by type and district on crime in Selangor - stated the number as 56,689 cases.

NONE Home Ministry secretary-general Abdul Rahim Mohamad Radzi (left) then withdrew the written reply to Pua and revised the 2009 crime figure to 54,994.

“It has not helped that crime incidents appear to be on the rise against after at least four recent reports over robbery and attempted abduction in various shopping centres in Klang Valley in the past month,” Pua added.

“We call on the government to stop blaming the media for the concerns about crime. Instead, tell us why it refuses to provide detailed statistics on crime if it really has nothing to hide from us.”