Rise in organised crime but fall in crime index: Tell it like it is, authorities urged

Concerns have been raised about the rate of murder and robbery in the country which appears to be on the rise despite a drop in Malaysia's crime index over the past two years.

The crime index is used for two types of crime: violent crimes such as murder, rape, and armed robbery, and crimes related to property such as burglary and vehicle theft.

A criminologist and a crime prevention organisation that spoke to MalaysiaNow said organised crime such as murder was becoming more widespread, with criminals employing more extreme tactics than before.

Crime analyst Shahul Hamid Abdul Rahim said murder cases in Malaysia are usually kidnaps for ransom which end in death. Such cases are classified as murder.

However, the concern of late has been on organised crime like the acid attack on Selangor FC footballer Faisal Halim in May this year.

According to Shahul, such crime now appeared to be motivated by threats or revenge.

"My observation is that these sorts of crimes have been on the rise," he said. "This is very serious.

"Sometimes they even involve those in authority or the police."

He was referring to a case in July where a police officer had been charged with murdering a university graduate and dumping her body in an oil palm plantation near Hulu Bernam.

Numbers

Last year, Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain said the crime index had gone down by 1.1% with 25,482 cases recorded between January and June, compared to 25,775 during the same period the year before.

According to the crime statistics uploaded by the statistics department, however, the index for violent and property crimes increased by 3.2% in 2023 to 52,444 cases compared to 50,813 in 2022.

The majority of cases involved robbery (4,588), followed by assault (3,693), rape (1,914), and murder (258).

Violent crimes increased by 1.0% while property crimes went up by 3.8%.

MalaysiaNow is attempting to obtain the latest numbers from Bukit Aman.

Ayub Yaakob, vice-chairman of the Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation, said the concern was not only the increase in organised crime cases but the manner in which these crimes were committed.

"Take burglaries for example: they enter a home and then a murder occurs. After that, the body is kept in the freezer and so on.

"There are many cases like this," he said.

He also said there had been an increase in cases that are not included in the crime index, such as bullying incidents in schools or universities which result in death.

In March, for example, a 17-year-old student at a vocational college was found dead on the floor of his dormitory room with injuries and bruises to his body.

In September, meanwhile, a man died from more than 20 stab wounds in an armed robbery case in Bandar Sri Damansara, Petaling Jaya.

On social media in general, videos have been circulated showing similar robberies occurring even in broad daylight in public places such as laundrettes, convenience stores, and shopping malls.

Shahul said the authorities must be transparent in providing statistics on crime.

For example, he said, if 200 cases occur in a month, these should be recorded accurately and not played down.

He said it was understandable if the authorities were concerned that the true picture might frighten the public.

"But these statistics must be made known so that people can remember them and be on their guard.

"Then they can be more careful. These numbers cannot be hidden."