The number of criminal cases that were prosecuted in Johor is far from satisfactory.

Joint Media Statement by Liow Cai Tung, Johor Jaya Assemblyperson and Wong Shu Qi, Senai Assemblyperson on 29^th December 2013 (Sunday) at Johor Bahru:

The number of criminal cases that were prosecuted in Johor is far from satisfactory.

First of all, we would like to extend our congratulations to Datuk Mokhtar Shariff, the Johore Police Chief on the reduction of crime rate.

According to the data released by Datuk Mokhtar Shariff on 19^th December 2013, there are 16,415 cases recorded up to Dec 15 this year and it is 10.07% lower than the same period in 2012.

While it should be considered as a great achievement for our police force, we must not forget that crime is still perceived as one of the most important problems we Johoreans are facing daily.

We are very astonished when informed by the police that criminal cases prosecuted in the past few years were only around 10% of the total number of cases reported in Johor, which matches with the national overall view that less than 20% of index crimes were resolved in 2012.

In the written reply to Johor Jaya Assemblyperson, the numbers of cases that were brought to court in Johore are as follows:

This should definitely be alarming to the member of the public and also to the Home Minister. To regain public confidence over our law enforcement officers, we must not only publish data that is recorded as to show reduction but also showing concrete proof that public safety is indeed improving.

The figures above prove that our worry and concern are real and not merely a perception.

Apart from that, it is also revealed in Budget 2014 that only 60,401 cases out of 395,888 index crimes were resolved in the year 2012.

While BN government keeps claiming that our crime rate is reducing, most people remain doubtful. The statistic here is the reason of fear of crime among people and the lack of confidence towards our crime combating policy.

Not only the number revealed in the answer made us worried, the different answers on the same matter also raise up the issue of credibility. We have been provided two sets of different figures on the same issue.

In the written reply to Senai Assemblyperson, it is said that 9.07% (1,902) drop of index crime recorded in 2012 if compared with the previous year. However, the figures in the table above show that only 7.62% (1,301) reduction of index crime, if it is indeed a reliable source.

Does the Johore State Government have access to accurate data or have they been making decision based on inaccurate numbers? It makes us more worried if the state government is not taking the issue of crime into serious consideration, and mistakes it as an issue of perception.

Liow Cai Tung

Wong Shu Qi