I find it funny in Malaysia that the larger the number of people who receive education the bigger the number of crimes and even more depressing is that the crimes get worse every time. One would expect the opposite to happen since logically, the more educated a nation is the more civilized that nation would be and thus, the lesser the number of crimes committed.
I do not have the specific numbers for the number of Malaysians who are receiving at least a secondary education but if we try extrapolating from this data ( (Auty, 2002) surely the number of citizens who had secondary education have at least tripled or at least hovering around in the number of hundred thousand. But I guess using only that as a data is insufficient as we would have to take into account the number of dropouts to have an idea on how the education system is working but that is on a whole different discussion. Based on a paper as cited by this blog, it seems that Malaysia is turning out to be a haven for crimes because according to that blog, the number of crime rate has increased by 300% since 1991 and according to this website, the numbers are steadily rising. This paper whom the author is known as ACP Amar Singh Sindhu is dedicated to dissecting and analyzing the trend in the rising number of crimes in Malaysia. It can be found here Perhaps the main cause for the rise in the number of crimes is unemployment because as we all know (yes, this is generalization), a lot of Malaysian graduates are unable to find a job due to their incompetence and the lack of motivation to improve themselves “weaknesses” and this might have driven these idiots them to resort to uncouth manners of obtaining a bit of wealth.
But these criminals aren’t only Malaysians, they comprise of illegal immigrants too, and the growing influx of foreign workers might contribute to the rising amount of crimes. Having to leave their country in pursuit of a better life and ending up living in squatters and battered shacks might prove to be frustrating and thus crushing any dream of leading a better life. This frustration might have been a motivator to seek out money in ways that I despise.
Stamping out crime has often been one of the problems in Malaysia, we just can’t seem to find the right concoction to deter or at least reduce crime in anyway. The negative view of the public towards the police force certainly doesn’t help with the cause but such views were not made out of thin air. The law enforcers of Malaysia are generally known to be very kind towards bribery, they are lazy, have no etiquettes, and are comprised of a bunch of lazy bums with those who are truly dedicated being a rare species. The police force in Malaysia has lost its honor but they are certainly not doing anything to regain that back. But I’m not going to elaborate on weaknesses that even I have no evidence for.
Let’s talk about solutions. Almost a year ago, I stumbled upon an article which to me is very interesting; the article talks about “The Broken Window Theory” envisioned by James Q. Wilson, a political scientist and George L. Kelling a criminologist back in 1982. The theory suggests that disorderly conditions promote bad behaviors and if one were to fix these conditions, there would be a decrease in unruly behaviors. In the article it showed positive results when the local authorities took the extra length to clean off graffiti, pick up trash, and be more strict with parking and all. It’s these little things they made it a habit to clean up while still doing their rounds around the neighborhood. Now Malaysia, well, let’s narrow it down to Klang Valley, something I can relate to. Anybody who lives in the vicinity of Klang Valley knows how people love to do double-sided parking, motorcyclists breaking the red light before it can turn green, the chaotic parking in front of apartments or condominiums, restaurants taking up parking space to put tables and chairs, etc. Most would know how low cost flats are like, dirty, dingy and all. The Klang Valley area (especially in residential areas) is a living chaos.
If we could apply this theory (though we might need to fix administration and their allocation of money first) by making sure none of the above is present, it would be interesting to see how this would work in local communities of Malaysia. The presence of police in hot spots or anywhere for that matter might deter potential criminals from ever committing one though the lack of personnel might hinder this from being executed.
A clean and organized looking city or area like Putrajaya (of which I think has less crime rates, maybe due to the fact there’s not many living there) would not only make the Klang Valley area look pleasant, it would make it safer.
The mentality of the people is that breaking a small rule is nothing as long as it doesn’t have an immediate effect. This mentality is somewhat universal in Malaysia, be it those from lower income or those are filthy rich. This is what we should change, because with this third world mentality, any law-breaking is legal. The Americans for example, will stop fully if there is a stop sign on the road no matter who they are but Malaysians, as long as there aren’t any car visible, we won’t stop. If only enforcement wasn’t an issue in Malaysia, a lot of problems we have would be fixed.
I do hope there would be a politician who would try to make Malaysia a safer place. An average citizen won't be able to do much except abide by the laws and reporting crimes.
