Talkback Thursday: Are women safe in KL?

Just yesterday, MP of Batu Gajah (Ms) Fong Po Kuan claimed that women’s fears about their safety contradicted the statistics on crime reduction under the National Key Result Areas.

This claim attracted a barrage of responses from other MPs  in the Dewan Rakyat with retorts saying that the fear for women’s safety was based on perception and did not reflect the views of the majority of women; that the crime statistics do not lie, and that Malaysia has been acknowledged as one of the safest countries in the world.

According to the Global Peace Index Report of 2011, Malaysia is the safest country in South East Asia and ranked 19th safest in the world.

But recent high profile cases have generated a sense of fear among women:

Just last week, a woman was robbed and slashed on her head at the car park of the Mid Valley Megamall in the capital city. The victim was only several metres away from her parked car when she was attacked. However, the car was not stolen.

The NST report that it was the third robbery at a shopping complex car park in the Klang Valley in the past month. All three cases were women who were walking alone.

Can you blame women for being afraid?

However, the crime statistics collected by the police and reported by PEMANDU has decidedly shown that overall, crime rate has decreased over the past year:

11.1% drop in Index Crime
39.7% drop in Street Crime

Of course, PEMANDU has repeatedly said that crime has dropped, not eliminated. It is still a serious concern and no matter how much fear there is, crime cannot and probably will never be completely eliminated.