Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : CROWN PRINCESS HOTEL, KUALA LUMPUR
Tarikh/Date : 12/01/93
Tajuk/Title : THE INAUGURATION CEREMONY OF
MALAYSIA CRIME PREVENTION FOUNDATION
Firstly may I welcome all the foreign delegates to
Malaysia with a sincere 'SELAMAT DATANG'. I would like to
express my thanks to the organising committee for giving me
this opportunity to address you in conjunction with the in-
auguration of the Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation
(MCPF). I hope this Foundation will achieve its objective
of contributing towards crime prevention.
2. I am indeed overwhelmed to see so many people from so
many organisations, gracing this occasion. I see over a
hundred from the Asia Crime Prevention Foundation. Japan is
well-represented with its Shizuoka branch, the United Na-
tions Far East Institute, Tokyo and the Japanese judiciary
and media. I am also informed that there are guests from
Pakistan, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines,
China, Hong Kong and Korea, amongst others. I would like to
once again bid all of them a warm welcome and hope that they
will spend some time to see as much as they can of our coun-
try and its people.
3. Historically, one of the earliest forms of cooperation
in law enforcement between sovereign nations had involved
efforts to control piracy on the high seas. By the 19th
century, however the industrial revolution in the western
world had inadvertently triggered an urban crime explosion
which became a matter of widespread concern. Reformatories
and penal institutions proliferated and experts and profes-
sionals from various nations were soon brought together to
compare notes on criminal justice techniques. The estab-
lishment of the League of Nations in 1919 broke new ground
in that this fore-runner of the United Nations took an ac-
tive interest in penal reforms to bring about a more humane
approach to the treatment of offenders. Every five years a
congress was held for this purpose.
4. When the United Nations was formed after the second
world war, it took over the responsibilities for holding the
quinquennial congress but the United Nations approach has
slowly expanded to balance the need to rehabilitate
offenders rather than merely to incarcerate them as a meas-
ure to protect society from criminals, protect the interests
of victims as well as to develop and train all segments of
the criminal justice system to function professionally ac-
cording to more humane universal standards.
5. The Malaysian government since independence has striven
to eliminate the kind of crime caused by people who are de-
nied the proper means to keep body and soul together. Al-
though action for equitable distribution of wealth gives
equal opportunities to everyone, this is not easily achieved
in a multi-racial and multi-cultural society with its at-
tendant sensitivities. But we have managed to do it fairly
well and we will continue the policy to achieve more socio-
economic equality in the future so that there will be
greater unity, equality and cohesiveness in a caring society
where all the people are equally subjected to the rule of
law.
6. In a world of increasing crime, particularly heinous
and violent crimes, as is so evident in some of the devel-
oped societies, I am pleased to note that the approach taken
towards crime prevention in this country is an integrated
one. This is premised on the government's recognition of
the need to involve all its ministries and people, resulting
in a relatively low rate of reported crime. By the standard
set by interpol, Malaysia averages not much more than 70,000
index crime a year. By the standard set by the United Na-
tions Crime Commission, Malaysia averages only 100,000 re-
ported incidents of crime yearly in a population of 18
million people with a strong element of immigrant labour and
illegal immigrants. Of course we are not satisfied with
these rates. We must strive to protect our society from any
form of crime, and we must get all our people involved. To-
wards this end, we need to inculcate strong moral and eth-
ical values in our people right from their childhood. It is
imperative that we develop this value early among the young.
Experience has shown that a prosperous nation need not nec-
essarily experience a reduction in crime. Prosperity in
fact provides opportunities for more crimes to be committed,
particularly commercial crime and petty theft.
7. The United Nations charter recognises a diversity of
cultures and communities, other people's ways and desires
may not be in consonance with our own. All of us have not
developed to the same degree and standards economically and
politically. The mere imposition of the standards of the
so-called advanced countries need not necessarily yield good
results. In any case the crime records of advanced coun-
tries do not seem to speak well of the effectiveness of
their standards. You must therefore forgive us if at times
we feel the need to question the motive behind some of the
concerted efforts by the western world to force us to adopt
its values and standards. We suspect, and we have reason to
suspect from the events which have taken place and the many
examples available that some of the efforts are not all that
altruistic.
8. The Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation is established
with the aims of contributing towards crime prevention and
the treatment of victims and offenders in order to achieve
the ultimate goal of peace and stability in the country and
the region. This is to be done by way of survey, research,
education and other programmes on the basis of solidarity
and mutual co-operation among persons interested in or in-
volved with the criminal justice system, particularly those
in Asian countries. The Foundation hopefully will promote
public awareness of and participation in crime prevention in
tandem with the coordinated efforts of government and pri-
vate organisations interested or involved in crime pre-
vention and the criminal justice system.
9. It is hoped that criminologists and other experts in
related fields working in government agencies will continue
to contribute their experience, knowledge and energy towards
a more peaceful and crime free environment. They should im-
part their knowledge and service through the Malaysia Crime
Prevention Foundation activities. It is also my hope that
the Foundation can galvanize members of our society and
marshall some of its corporate economic resources as well as
the expertise and acumen of its individuals and group
organisations in the search for that ideal of prosperity
without crime and social justice for all.
10. The social and economic changes that have accompanied
the process of global development have given rise to paral-
lel changes in criminal patterns. Conditions conducive to
the articulation of new crimes have emerged and been ex-
ploited. New and old types of criminality have tendencies
to transcend national boundaries.
11. Modern technology may be a boon to our society but its
application by the criminally inclined has made it possible
for offenders to move their criminal operations swiftly
across frontiers and take advantage of the differences in
laws, their enforcement and their jurisdictions. No single
law enforcement agency from a single country can respond ad-
equately and effectively to this new challenge. Interna-
tional cooperation and integrated efforts by national and
regional law-enforcers, prosecutors and judiciaries have be-
come absolutely necessary.
12. The global war against the scourge of crossborder
crimes and the illicit drug trafficking needs genuine and
determined efforts by all countries. The speed of modern
transport and communication, coupled with criminal ingenu-
ity, make accessibility to the markets and avoidance of de-
tection much easier. The international narcotic syndicates
which appear to be beyond control, constantly evolve new
methods of trafficking to evade the arms of law. They also
take advantage of shortcomings in national laws and govern-
mental laxity, particularly in areas of banking, to enable
them to launder their ill-gotten profits.
13. As we enter the last decade of the 20th century, we
note that commercial and fraud-related crimes are becoming
more and more sophisticated due to the rapidly-developing
computer and telecommunication technology. Like the drug
trade they are increasingly transnational in character.
Thus, international cooperation in this area must be equally
pursued.
14. The prevailing attitude that crime prevention is the
sole responsibility of the law enforcers must also change.
The public must realise that crime is a social problem in-
volving every member of the community. The involvement of
all members of society is needed to realise an effective
crime prevention programme. Moral education that starts at
an early age at home must form the very foundation of crime
prevention. Responsible behaviour should be instilled early
among the young and impressionable age groups. Compliance
with most laws should depend upon the acceptance of norms
and concerns for the feelings of others, and not so much
upon the likelihood of punishment in accordance with the
laws. In this sense a family, with strong ties and positive
social values, plays a crucial role in controlling deviant
behaviour of its members. A break in the traditional family
structure and control, is one of the contributory factors
for the increase in the occurrence of crime. That is why we
in Malaysia reject hedonism, licentiousness and unbridled
individualism as a way of life.
15. Finally, I hope this Foundation will work closely with
other institutions of the United Nations and sister
organisations elsewhere. We must work together, pool our
resources and share our professional knowledge, experiences
and expertise for a better and more secure society.
16. With that, I hereby officially launch the Malaysia
Crime Prevention Foundation.
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