The mystery surrounding the disappearance of a cosmetics millionaire - Sosilawati Lawiya of Nouvelle Visages - ended when the police stated that she had been murdered, burnt and her ashes strewn in a river.

 

Her disappearance, which was reported in the media over a week ago, has been baffling. Her family knew of no threats to her life or phone calls for ransom, while the disappearance of the three men who accompanied her was not reported by their families for several days.

 

According to one daughter, her mother had returned to their village, Kampung Seri Menanti, to prepare for Hari Raya while another daughter said their mother was going to Banting, to negotiate a land deal.

 

Former inspector-general of police Musa Hassan confirmed the receipt of a report on Sosilawati’s disappearance, but none about her missing lawyer, her driver or a bank officer, who disappeared at the same time.

 

The cosmetics queen was last NONE seen in public on Aug 28 at a buka puasa event. She was worth RM100 million and owned 300 beauty outlets in Singapore, Brunei and Thailand. Residents of her kampong praised her and her Nouvelles Visage cosmetics empire.

 

Despite her success, she was never proud and was a good rôle model. She was also reputedly approachable, kind and charitable.

Nevertheless, she was named in a number of scandals. She married, then divorced the rock-singer ‘Nash’, after 10 months and filed a RM1.38 million claim. In January, she was charged with khalwat but claimed that she had married her partner in Thailand last November.

 

In 2007 and March 2010, she was fined for possession of beauty products containing the scheduled poison hydroquinone.

 

Reports that the police had rounded up a lawyer said to be a ‘datuk’ has added to the aura of mystery. Interestingly, they emphasised the word ‘datuk’ by enclosing it in inverted commas.

 

In the past many seemed to think that ‘datuks’ could browbeat sycophants and thus be immune from prosecution. Are we approaching a watershed for this form of corruption?

 

Sosilawati’s murder is the latest in a series of disturbing violent crimes in Malaysia. A land deal which goes wrong, does not usually end in murder.

 

Did the ‘datuk’ lawyer and his accomplices not realise the difficulty of getting rid of one body, let alone four?

 

It is alleged that the ‘datuk’ lawyer and his brother, also a lawyer, have been involved in land scams which ended with the disappearance of several people.

 

How did he escape investigation? Did his datuk-ship protect him? Is this what Musa alluded to when he cited “interference” by “third parties’’?

Public not fooled

 

The police force is an institution that has been politicised. Its first objective does not seem to be to serve and protect the people.

 

Earlier in the year, high-ranki NONE ng policemen (Musa, right, in March and Shah Alam ACP Noor Azam Jamaludin in April) reported a reduction in the national crime index.

 

In April and May, both Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Idris Jala praised the ‘outstanding’ achievements of the police.

 

Hishammuddin said: “The crime index has been reduced by 15.3 percent and street crimes dropped by 38.7 percent over the first four months, compared with the same period last year.”

Idris reiterated that the police effort was beyond expectations, saying “This is a phenomenal reduction in crime rate”.

 

Ministers and the police dish out statistics and expect us to be convinced. What we see and hear from our friends, workmates and neighbours is different. We are neither naïve nor gullible.

 

Can anyone say whether these statistics are verified by an independent body so that data manipulation is reduced?

  • How is the crime index calculated?
  • If property crime is grouped with violent crime, a misleading figure of true crime emerges. How is violent crime defined?
  • How fast is it growing?
  • What percentage of violent criminals are convicted?
  • What are the re-offending rates?
The accuracy of official statistics on crime and criminals depend on the diligence of the different branches of the criminal justice system. If an offence is reported to the police, it is they who exercise discretion when deciding whether to include it in official statistics.

 

The police have also been accused of being influenced by the ‘VIP factor’. Reports made by politicians and those with official clout receive swift police action and thorough investigation.

 

Idris requested the media’s help in fighting crime, by highlighting the rôle of the police and the Home Ministry.

 

First, he must stop assuming we can be lulled into a false sense of security, be blinded by numbers or bullied into accepting statistics at face-value.

 

In 2004, snatch thief 031104 only 14 percent of the reports made by the public actually made it to the investigation stage. Many victims of crime are disillusioned and have stopped making police reports. Officially recorded criminality thus differs from real criminality.

 

When the previous IGP accused ‘third parties’ of interfering, he was breaking the law, by pandering to their wishes and not charging them. He did not uphold the law. He only protected his position, his power, his perks and his pension. He lacked the moral courage to confront the home minister or other interfering politicians or individuals.

 

There are many dedicated people who join the police because they want to make life better for others. Unfortunately, they must operate against a backdrop of accusations of brutality, trigger-happiness and racism. The new IGP must weed out the bad policemen.

 

Can he stop his force from being used as a political football? Will he renew his men’s faith in themselves and public-faith in the police force?

 

Will he make the police more accountable for their actions? Will he report and name those people who wish to interfere - even if the meddling comes from the very top.

 

If ministers and the police want to be taken seriously, then let the new IGP, Ismail Omar, do his job. He is starting with a clean slate. The public will not tolerate more cosmetic changes - they want action.

 

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a non-conformist traditionalist from Perak, a bucket chemist and an armchair eco-warrior. In ‘real-speak’, this translates into that she comes from Ipoh, values change but respects culture, is a petroleum chemist and also an environmental pollution-control scientist.