PUTRAJAYA, 4 Dec 2008: The government intends to appoint an expert in criminal studies from a local university to do research on crime rate in the country.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said although the data from Interpol showed that the crime rate in Malaysia was lower than that in Japan, Korea and the Britain, there were still people who doubted it.

“So, we will get an expert, who will be informed by the Inspector-General of Police, to do a research on crime activities in the country. Perhaps, this way the people will believe it,” he told reporters here today.

However, he refused to name the expert as the matter had yet to be finalised.

Commenting yesterday’s newspaper report on the need to build a police station to address incidents of crime at Desa Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur, Syed Hamid said the government did have plans to do so, but it was delayed due to allocation constraint.

However, he said the ministry would look into the matter and find the funds to build the RM20 million police station complex.

“Since the project has yet to be implemented, we will increase police presence in the area,” he added.

Earlier, Syed Hamid received contributions for Chief Insp Ang Weay Leong, from the Serious Crime Division (D9), who was seriously injured in a shoot-out with the “Ah Took” gang, whose members are high on the police wanted list for armed robbery and luxury vehicle theft, in Sungai Long last month.

The contributions comprised a personal donation of RM10,000 from Tan Sri Robert Phang, who is a member of the Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation, and RM20,000 from Masterplan Consulting Sdn Bhd. — Bernama