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Shootings, Murders and Human Rights [Updated on 13/8/13]



Past 30 days more than 18 shootings and 8 murders taken place in Malaysia. From the mainstream media and internet portals this becomes the hottest topic which had been discussed by various parties. The most obvious scapegoat on this matter is the Royal Police of Malaysia.

Our new Inspector General of Police comes under scrutiny from numerous sectors of people within our society. We cannot blame him solely of what is happening in our country now. This particular problem already existed many decades ago. The various parties who are entrusted to uphold the safety of our nation and to maintain peace in our country eventually have not done enough until the situation is deteriorated to such nature now.

The most obvious conflict is between national security and human rights. Past years, many security laws like Internal Security Act and Emergency Ordinance were repealed to satisfy and accommodate for the voices of human rights. Unfortunately these laws not sufficiently replaced with new security laws. Therefore the powers of the enforcement and security forces to maintain law and order in Malaysia are limited.

The existence and legitimacy of a country very much depended on the security and preservation of its constitutional requirements. We cannot allowed our beloved country destroyed just because to uphold or fulfill the requirement of certain people in name of human rights. When there is a conflict between human rights and national security, I believe national security should be given the highest consideration because without the existence of a country there will be no humans to enjoy their rights. So, national interest and security are paramount.

What is most important aspect that we need to consider now is how to overcome this current debacle. There are no point blame people without giving any constructive opinions to resolve this problem. Prevention of a crime is not a sole responsibility of the enforcement and security forces.

Firstly, we need to enact new security laws without infringing our constitutional rights. The model of these laws can be taken from Australia [Crime Prevention Powers Act 1998] and United Kingdom [Prevention of Crime Act 1953 - An Act to prohibit the carrying of offensive weapons in public places without lawful authority or reasonable excuse; Crime and Security Act 2010 - An Act to make provision about police powers of stop and search; about the taking, retention, destruction and use of evidential material; for the protection of victims of domestic violence; about injunctions in respect of gang-related violence; about anti-social behaviour orders; about the private security industry; about possession and use of electronic communications devices in prison; about air weapons; for the compensation of victims of overseas terrorism; about licensing the sale and supply of alcohol; about searches in relation to persons subject to control orders; and for connected purposes.] i.e. the crime prevention legislations. Even though we have the Prevention of Crime Act 1959, but this law need to scrutiny further for suitability of the current needs.

Secondly, in UK there is an agency which is known as Serious Organised Crime Agency [SOCA]. The function of this agency is to tackle serious organised crime that affects the UK and its citizens. This includes class A drugs, people smuggling and human trafficking, major gun crime, fraud, computer crime and money laundering. This is a centralized agency. The agency officers can have the collective powers of police, customs and immigration officers. It’s also having a substantial range of tools and legislation to target criminals with the ability to recover assets through to Serious Crime Prevention Orders. They use traditional methods like investigating and arresting criminals. In meanwhile they also incorporated new innovative methods like first class intelligence, monitoring serious career criminals, hitting them where it hurts, working in partnership, worldwide operations and making it harder to commit crime.

We can adopt this model with our own requirements and allow the relevant security and enforcement agencies to work together to prevent the serious crimes happen in Malaysia in future.

Lastly and most importantly, all sectors of people have to work together and they must understand and support the relevant agencies on the crime prevention in Malaysia. The criminals always find cutting-edge ways with security and enforcement agencies to commit a crime. A crime is unsubtle. Prevention is always better than the cure.

Let’s work together and help the relevant agencies to prevent crimes in Malaysia rather than do nothing and blame others all time.
  
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

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