THE notion that crime discriminates on the basis of race and ethnicity creates harmful stereotypes and deepens the divisions within society, says Penang Yang di-Pertua Negri Tun Ahmad Fuzi Abdul Razak.
This will undermine the ability to address the root causes effectively, he added.
“We may even risk overlooking the underlying societal issues that drive crime.
“By embracing a colour-blind perspective, we can foster a more nuanced understanding of crime and work towards creating a fair and just society for all,” he said in his speech at the 10th Forum on Crime & Policing held at a hotel in George Town, Penang.
Ahmad Fuzi said it was crucial to recognise that crime transcended racial and ethnic boundaries.
He said high crime rates recorded in certain communities were influenced by various socioeconomic factors.
These included poverty, lack of education, unemployment, substance abuse and family instability.
He said all these represented just a few examples of the complex web of factors that could contribute to criminal behaviours.
On combating crime effectively, Ahmad Fuzi said it was important to focus efforts towards addressing the root causes.
He said investing in education, creating job opportunities, implementing social welfare programmes, addressing substance abuse, providing rehabilitation and treatment programmes and amending outdated laws and policies could uplift communities that were disproportionately affected by crime.
The governor said such measures could help break the cycle of crime and provide individuals involved with the resources and support they needed to make positive choices.
“I believe racial and ethnic profiling and discriminatory practices that exist in some societies around the world should have no place in Malaysia, dedicated as we are to promoting a fair and unbiased criminal justice system for all,” he said.
Ahmad Fuzi said fraud continued to be the most common occurrence and accounted for approximately 70% of all reported cases in 2021.
In Penang alone, he said, 1,285 cases of cybercrime were reported between January and May this year, a 62.3% increase over the same period last year.
The majority of victims were women at 52.5%, aged between 21 and 50 (78.6%), he added.
Themed ‘Crime Is Colour Blind’, the forum was organised by Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Centre for Policy Research and International Studies (CenPRIS), Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation (Penang) and the state police contingent.
Present during the forum were criminologist Datuk Dr P. Sundramoorthy, Asst Comm Dr S. Parusuraman representing the Inspector-General of Police and Senior Asst Comm Rahimi Ra’ais representing the state police chief.
Forum advisor Datuk Ong Poh Eng, Malaysian Bar president Karen Cheah Yee Lynn, Global Commission on Drug Policy commissioner Prof Datuk Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman and DRB-Hicom University of Automotive Malaysia vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Omar Osman also attended the half-day forum.
