Chin (right) with Lam at the New Sabah Times office yesterdayKOTA KINABALU: Give credit where credit is due.
That’s the message from two local community leaders commending the state police in their swift action to solve a case involving the abduction and assault of a female student of the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) here last week.
All this while we see and read how police are being hurled with criticisms from every level of society for purportedly not doing their duties well, said Pastor Lam Kee Hing and Pastor Chin
Chi Kiong of the Kota Kinabalu Pastors Fellowship.
“Three things I would like to highlight regarding last week’s kidnapping case,” Lam said during an interview with the New Sabah Times yesterday.
Firstly, it’s a wake up call for all of us. There had been frequent instances of unreported snatch thefts and houses being broken into especially at the Kingfisher Park residential area which is close to the UMS campus and where hundreds of university students live.
Not many of them were highlighted because those incidents were not as “dramatic” as last week’s kidnapping.
“With this latest incident it is hoped that university students as well as other residents at the Kingfisher area would now be provided with safer living conditions,” Lam said.
The assurance from Karambunai Assemblywoman Hjh Jainab Datuk Hj Ahmad Ayid on Saturday that a special task force has been set up to monitor the security situation in the area is very much welcomed. Jainab, who is Assistant Minister of Industrial Development, announced the formation of the special task force after chairing a meeting with City Police Chief ACP Ahmad Sofi Zakaria and other community leaders.
Secondly, the ability of the Sabah police to rescue the student and arrest the two abductors all within 48 hours is highly commendable.
Members of the public and in this case villagers and a bus driver cooperated with police to make their operation more efficient.
“We hope this will be a continuing trend in Sabah and plans to set up police beats or stations at crime-prone areas are very timely,” said both Lam and Chin.
On Thursday state deputy commissioner of police Datuk Abd Razak Ghani Abd Razak said that police would consider setting up a functional police station in Kingfisher Park.
Thirdly, everyone has a role to make Sabah a safer place.
“Don’t leave everything to the police. Rukun Tetangga, religious bodies, political parties among others can play their role to make this state a safer place. And it is for the long term benefit not only for Sabahans in general but for institutions like UMS, where many of its students are from
outside the state and the country,” Lam said.
Almost immediately after the incident befell the 22-year-old student from Sarawak, her church leaders established a network of SMSes that lead to instant alert among members of the public as well as the police.
“There’s no room for blame game because when we all work together, everyone wins. Even the media played a major role by publishing photos of the suspects,” Lam said.
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