July 11, 2012
PETALING
JAYA, July 11 — The recent spate of crime is causing expatriates to
fear for their safety and could impact Malaysia’s efforts to attract
talent to deal with its skills shortage, a senior human resource manager
with a major multinational told a conference here today.
This comes after a string of high-profile crimes — including the
kidnapping of 12-year old Nayati Moodliar, the son of a Dutch expatriate
that made international headlines — were committed in the last few
months, sparking heated debates over public safety.
“When I talk to expats in Shell, there is a growing insecurity with
regards to safety,” said Darrel Devan Lourdes, country human resource
manager for Shell Malaysia, at a conference on human resources here.
He noted that the living environment was an issue that Malaysia,
which is trying to graduate to developed nation status, needed to
address as part of its initiative to shore up its talent base.
“Talent will stay in Malaysia if it’s liveable,” he said.
Lourdes said later at the sidelines of the conference that whether
the fears were based on perception or reality was up for debate, but the
sense of “insecurity” among expatriates was undeniable.
The apparently growing trend of shocking crime incidents have put
government officials on the defensive, with the home minister having to
deny that there was any surge in the country’s crime rate.
The government’s Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu)
chief executive Datuk Seri Idris Jala also asked the media to stop
sensationalising crime cases to help arrest the “doom and gloom”
surrounding the issue.
Crime is one of the key result areas of Pemandu’s Government Transformation Programme.
The official figures and any change in mainstream reporting may have
little impact on public perception, however, given the strength of
social media that has been key in spreading news of some crime
incidences.
News of Nayati’s kidnapping first surfaced in Facebook while another
victim of a kidnapping attempt, Chin Xin-Ci, also posted her ordeal of
being attacked by two men at a shopping mall car park on popular social
networking site, before the stories quickly went viral and were later
picked up by mainstream media.
Word-of-mouth is also something that is beyond the control of the government.
“Malaysians like to talk,” noted Lourdes.
In the latest high profile crime to be reported, the mother of a
Penang federal lawmaker was robbed at knifepoint in a pre-dawn home
invasion in George Town this morning.
Other cases which made headlines in recent weeks include an ATM
robbery at a hypermarket that saw about RM1.2 million in cash carted
away; a carjacking and kidnapping of a Singaporean family in Johor and a
Malacca clerk who died after she fell off her motorbike after being
attacked by two men.
Following the string of ATM robberies, banks are also now mulling
moving their ATMs located in malls, supermarkets, petrol and rail
stations to alternative locations.
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