PUTRAJAYA, 18 Nov 2008: Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar today urged the opposition parties not to belittle the security forces because they are the enforcement agencies responsible for safeguuarding peace and security in the country.
He said they should criticise if there were any shortcomings and action would be taken if the criticisms had basis but they should not politicise the matter.
“I hope that the opposition parties will not simply belittle everyone. I see all sorts of people running us down.
“If something is good, say so. If it’s not, criticise and we will rectify it. We admit that not everything is perfect. I accept that. We’ve got problems and we intend to tackle it but please don’t condemn all the time,” he told reporters after the ministry’s monthly gathering here.
He was asked to comment on the attitude of DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang who is said to be constantly questioning the credibility of the security forces.
Syed Hamid said Lim should act maturely and not condemn the security forces just to become popular.
He did not deny that there were cases which were difficult to solve but said that if this became the focus to belittle the security forces it would not help in confidence building.
“If there are unsolved cases, no police force will rest easy, especially if they are cases involving the kidnapping of small children, and these are case that we would want to solve but sometimes they cannot be solved,” he said.
He also said that during a financial crisis the security aspects must be stepped up to ensure that the secret societies and the loan sharks did not capitalise on the situation to fleece the people.
“If people are pressured, they may do things that they don’t normally do so we must continue to step up our security,” he said. — Bernama
