MALAYSIA - THE country's population increased by a whopping seven million the past 10 years while the strength of the Royal Malaysian Police Force remained the same at 95,000. Efforts are under way to recruit another 60,000 personnel over the next five years.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan, who admitted that the crime rate has gone up, assured the public that the security of the country was very much under control.

Police records show that 209,559 cases were reported last year (772 cases per 100,000 population) and the figure is expected to remain almost the same this year.

"The crime rate has increased here because of social problems as well as the influx of illegals in the country," Musa said, adding that the crime rate often increased during an economic slowdown.

"This is due to the fact that many people would be jobless and they turn to crime," he said.

The IGP stressed that one of the main reasons for the rise in crime was the change in attitudes of youths who do not respect the elders to the extent of fighting with their parents, relatives and even more recently with teachers.

Over the past few months, newspapers have been highlighting gangsterism in schools while racial incidents are on the rise.

Musa has often stressed the need to rehabilitate society rather than focus on catching criminals and locking them up.

"It is society that breeds criminals, not the police," he said.

The IGP said it saddened him when politicians, who represent the welfare and voice of the people, were sometimes the same people who incited hatred and discord among people.

"Some of these politicians cry about human rights but when they encourage people to break the law, they say it is within their rights to do so.

"They hold illegal gatherings and demonstrations which force us to deploy our personnel to maintain peace and order," he added.

In 1998, during the height of the reformasi demonstrations, the crime index peaked at 772 per 100,000 population, but that year, the population was only 20 million (total cases were 158,808.)

The high crime rate recorded in 2007 can be attributed to the number of demonstrations organised by political parties and NGOs, including the Hindu Rights Action Force and election watchdog Bersih.

"The crime rate has increased in almost every country, including our neighbours, and despite the huge increase in population here we still keep crime at bay due to the increased efforts by our men.

"There are only 95,000 policemen in the country to protect some 27 million Malaysians but people don't talk about that.

"They keep on harping on the crime rate but never bother to compare the increase in population with our shortage of manpower."

It is learnt that whenever a demonstration of about 2,000 people is held, the police had to deploy about 300 personnel to guard the situation.

"The number of personnel deployed is equivalent to the total number of policemen in a district," he said.

"This is where our manpower is wasted. Our studies show that when street demonstrations and elections are held, crimes tend to increase.

"This is due to the fact that most of our men would be deployed to sensitive areas to watch over rallies and ceramah, thus sacrificing the patrolling in areas of high crime rate," he added.

The police have sent in proposals to the government seeking additional funds to beef up police presence and made several initiatives to safeguard society.

Musa said he had embarked on an intelligence-gathering programme requiring officers from the Special Branch, CID and other departments to work together to combat crimes.

Despite all their setbacks and shortcomings, the police planned to conduct a massive operation throughout the country, especially in crime prone areas.

"The public must cooperate to ensure that their area is crime free. We can achieve better results only if the people work with us," Musa added.

The police can only do so much and to achieve the desired results, the public, who are the benefactors, must put aside all criticisms and help the men in blue ensure that Malaysia is a crime-free nation.