Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has denied that the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) is the government's lackey, saying that such allegations are “absolutely unfounded”.

Expressing regret over “reckless” allegations painting the police in bad light, he said: “Some people have created the perception labelling the police as the government's lackey (pak turut), that they are paid to do nothing (gaji buta), and the crime index is rising.”

“All these allegations are absolutely unfounded,” he said when officiating the 211st Police Day at the police training centre in Kuala Lumpur this morning.

As an example of the alleged misinformation maligning the police, Najib said a “93-year-old former leader” had claimed the police had encouraged the unnamed figure to sack the deputy prime minister of the time.

This is an apparent reference to former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who said on March 12 that he shouldn’t have sacked his protégé Anwar Ibrahim, but the evidence against his then deputy was provided by the police.

“That statement has already been rebutted by the former police strongman Rahim Noor, who was the inspector-general at the time,” Najib said, before proceeding to read a quote from Rahim Noor explaining that the police has no power to sack anyone.

Progress in crime fighting

Earlier during the celebrations today, inspector-general of police Muhamad Fuzi Harun said the number of index crime has dropped by 13,186 cases (11.7 percent) last year, compared to 2016.

Over the same period, violent crime had fallen by 960 cases (4.3 percent), while property crime fell by 12,226 cases (13.6 cases), he said.

As for this year up to March 15, he said index crime had fallen by 9.7 percent, violent crime by 16.2 percent, and property crime by 7.9 percent.

He also highlighted the police had arrested 389 suspects linked to the militant Islamic State (IS), including seven arrests that were conducted between Feb 27 and March 15, but were only announced yesterday.

“Nevertheless, the fear of crime still pervades society. Hence, the police will redouble their programmes with the community, which are not only aimed at warming relations between the police and the community, but also to raise public awareness to prevent and curtail crime together,” he said.

Speaking to reporters later, Fuzi said people know that crime is falling, but feel there are still shortcomings that the police should address.

Hence, he said the police will continue to engage with members of the public and give them confidence that the police are working hard to reduce crime.