Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein today denied that the recent spate of crimes were caused by former Emergency Ordinance (EO) detainees, saying only 0.27 percent of those released had been involved in crime.

He was responding to recent speculations, including from Pemandu and deputy Selangor police chief A Thaiveegan, that the abolition of the EO had resulted in the recent crime surge.

NONE "If you break down the figures of where they (the ex detainees) are, what sort of trends and whether that argument is true or not, it is not difficult to accept or debunk it. But it is still being looked at," Hishammuddin ( left in photo ) told a press conference in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur today.

Asked if he meant that the former EO detainees involved were too few to be the cause of the recent crime spree, he replied, "If we talk about the recent incidents, it's 0.27 percent from 1,476 (ex detainees), so you do the maths."

Earlier, Hishammuddin, accompanied by deputy inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar and deputy Kuala Lumpur chief police officer Amar Singh, conducted a walkabout at Pavilion shopping centre and surveyed the mall's new emergency buttons installed at its carpark.

NONE Queried about whether the recent police campaign in shopping malls including walkabouts, handing out goodies and music performances helped with reducing crime, Hishammuddin said this was to help create a conducive environment for people to feel safe.

“I think it is a matter of allaying the fears of the public. The environment must be conducive... No matter what initiatives you do, the environment in which you live must be conducive and feels safe,” he said.

NONE Aside from these light-hearted efforts, Hishammuddin added that the police have taken concrete initiatives to address the issue of crime including the use of auxiliary police, the introduction of more CCTVs, working with shopping malls and engaging with private security firms.

He added that the budget allocated for the police force was not sufficient for some 120,000 odd police officers to ensure the safety of 27 million Malaysians in the country.

“But we are lucky the government has crime as one of the National Key Results Areas so we get extra budget as well as the cooperation of Rela, auxiliary police and the necessary logistics,” he said.

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