Community Policing & Youth (YOU!)

A concept remains merely a (sleeping) concept unless it is well implemented to benefit the people.

A good concept is one that uses the minimum resources and capable of generating the maximum effects on the targeted groups.

A successful concept is one that could be adopted easily by anybody, anywhere, anytime.

Our police was smart to engage the youth to be their eyes and ears. Their friendly officers,led by acting OCPD Muar, Supt.Lee Chuan Guan had moved into schools to educate the youth about crime prevention. ( Peggy Back Theory = It was indeed a very clever idea for Supt. Lee to peggy back on 1 platform of a youth camp to reach out to 220 young boys and girls at one goal! )

Supt.Lee is the head for Community Policing (CP) in the Muar district. A soft spoken man with a caring approach, Supt.Lee is not only a good listener but a good strategist. Under his dynamic leadership, Muar has been successful in putting the CP concept into real test for a pilot project at Taman Sri Maharani (TSM).

On 28th April 2008 in Kluang, Home minister Datuk Syed Hamid Albar acknowledged Muar has a good CP implementation and therefore it was a good example for others to emulate.(Syabas kepada IPD Muar, Syabas kepda semua warga Muar ! )

Meanwhile,speaking to the youth on a beautiful Saturday morning at Pei Chai school in Sungai Mati Muar, Supt.Lee strongly believed that our youth who are energetic and creative, could play an active role in making the concept of CP a success.

Supt.Lee Chuan Guan defined the objectives of CP as:

1)To strengthen the relationship between the police and the public (youth included).
2)To upgrade networking, between the Police and the public(again, youth included), in
crime prevention.
3)To get the public(you are right, youth is in) to be the eyes and ears of the Police and channelling all information on criminal activities to the Police.
4)To create awareness among members of the public (you are not wrong, youth must be
included), on how to use Police hotlines or SMS to combat crime.

Josef Roy Benedict of Amnesty International Malaysia says:"Community Policing ,which is being adopted worldwide, is a new way of policing in which the needs and expectations of the individuals and communities are always reflected in police decision-making and service.(NST, 25 Jun 2007)

Josef added that :"Community Policing can only be "effective" when society believes that policing is impartial and carried out for ALL rather than on behalf of certain groups."(NST,25 Jun 2007)

The day before, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports,YB Wee Jeck Seng declared open the youth camp. YB Wee pointed out that in Malaysia, 41% of the total population consisted of our youth(15 -45 years olds).

Here is the calculation if you want to sell a product to this group. Malaysia has 26 million people. 41% is youth= 10.6 million people!

If you are a handphone retailer, congratulations! If you are from a bank promoting credit cards, well done! But you are selling VCDs (original ones), sorrylah!

My businessman uncle always taught me that in order to survive in the competitive business world, you must first target the youth group (remember 10.6 million people!) and secondly, your product must be accepted by all races-Malays,Chinese,Indians,Sikhs,etc. Then you are on the road to the millionaire club!

If PDRM wanted to sell the CP concept to the entire nation, again the 41% of the population is simply the single largest group that couldn't be ignored.

Officers, please move into schools, move into colleges, move into universities and youth organisations. If you asked me again, I would suggest our men in blue to also move into kindergardens as well!

Straight from the Heart

CP Platform
I always believe that our Community Policing (CP) platform is so powerful that we could utilise it for anything that benefits the local communities. Be it for security purposes, recyling campaigns, blood donations, or charity drives in our housing estate.

TSM had tapped on our CP platform for a donation drive last Saturday. We roped in the entire neighborhood, involving adults,children,women and elderly to raise fund for the Sichuan earth quake victims in China.

Mini-Trishaws
Mr.Tan, a kind-hearted Muarian who runs a bicycle shop, was generous enough to lend TSM four units of mini trishaws which he designed for children. The children were tasked to ride on them holding a donation box each to go house to house and appeal to our neighbours and friends to donate generously.

150 households- Together We Unite!
All 150 households at TSM chipped in for a good course. We hit RM 10,000.00 on Saturday itself and as of today, we are at RM 14,200.00 mark, very close to our targeted amount of RM 15,000.00. Syabas TSM, you are not rich but you have shown that you cared for the needy!

Our objectives are:
1) To encourage residents to chip in for a good course.
2) To instill good moral values among our younger generations.
3) To unite our people during the time of need.
4) To foster better rapport among neighbors.

The Power of Love- Sikit-Sikit Lama Jadi Bukit !
One senior police officer upon hearing the donation drive, rang up our TSM committee and donated RM 100.00. A reporter who did coverage on our event, chipped in RM 10.00 as a show of approval. A young child aged 11, donated RM5.00 which was her total saving from her weekly pocket money for school. Another outstation visitor from KL to TSM, upon witnessing our activity, forked out RM 400.00 on the spot!(The same police officer, upon knowing that we lacked RM 800.00 to hit the RM 15,000 mark, chipped in another RM 100.00 as a show of encouragment ! )

Money collection for charity is always a dangerous task if you failed to promote transparency. Your reputation as a trustworthy person will go into drain if you mishandled the entire affair.

For TSM, we:
1) Partnered a local newspaper to raise fund.
2) Issued official receipt for each donor.
3) Handed over the total amount of money in the presence of a deputy federal minister.

Muar has about 146 taman. If every taman raised RM 10,000.00 for example, you can achieve a record figure of RM 1.46 million in a single day!

Using the same theory, if every taman in Muar kick start the CP project as soon as possible, all 146 taman will have many "silent nights" ahead. The entire Muar will be peaceful!

( Hint No.1: The "Anak Angkat" project or "Anggota Sektor" programs by the police have been sleeping for far too long. Wake up! Wake up! )

( Hint No.2: Shut up people, stop complaining !" Instead, you must make the first move to contact the police to invite the men in blue to your taman. Befriend them and work together for a smart partnership. Be sincere. Remember, your job is to help the police to help you! )

I' m a firm believer that local security should be managed ONLY by local residents in order to be Effective!


**The Result is out: TSM generated RM 16,000.00 for the Donation Drive for Sichuan victims ended on 30 May 2008 !!! (as at 12.05am 30/5/2008)

Crime Prevention & Youth

Seminar Pencegahan Jenayah bersama Belia

It was an honor for TSM when I received a suprise telephone call last Tuesday from OCPD Kluang, ACP Mohamad Fawzi bin Arshad invited me to present a topic on "Community Policing"(CP) at a Kluang hotel on 18th May 2008, a Sunday. I was excited for two reasons.

First of all, I would be sharing my TSM experience in CP with all the ketua-ketua masyarakat and chair persons of KRT (kawasan Rukun Tetangga) in the Kluang district. Secondly, I was informed that a big group of youth will be listening to me and therefore, I must share the experience on how TSM incorporated our youth into CP and neigbourhood watch programs.

OCPD Kluang
ACP Mohamad Fawzi is a man bigger than his picture. I met him for the first time in Kluang. In his 50s, he is like a fatherly figure to everyone. A good orator on stage, he could speak for 90 minutes non-stop about his favorite topics, added with a sense of humor.

A "hands-on" officer, he could quote the actual size of his district in one second, and next, he could spell out names of the black listed crime-prompt areas, be it in town or in any Felda schemes within Kluang. Afterall, he is a man who is always on the ground.

More importantly, he is young at heart. He spoke passionately about his youth in yesteryears and the challenges faced by our youth in today's materalistic society. He analysed every challenge in a logical manner and he provided very practical solutions to each of them.

He has a vision for the youth in Kluang. He wanted to give special attention to the youth and as a result of this, he had in his capacity as Kluang's top cop, had lobbied the MPs for both Kluang and Simpang Renggam to help to put the youth in a "controlled & confined" environment so that they could invlove in active sporting activities and stay away from from bad influences.

ACP Fawzi believed that our youth got talents, they are clever and capable. Therefore, proper guidance and advice are needed to show them to the right path. He cited an example where he learnt the lastest mobile phone technology from a youth! He continues to get inspirations from youth as he was not losing hope on them.

He challenged our community leaders to step forward and befriend the young people, be it in a warong teh or shopping centres, just lepak with them in order to understand them. He says:"Mereka ini bukan jahat, cuma nakal sahaja. Kita mesti menganjurkan aktiviti-aktiviti sukan yang boleh meletihkan dia orang".

I am extremely interested when ACP Fauzi mentioned about his coming pet project, that he intended to set up four committees focusing on 1) Crime 2)Drugs 3)Road safety 4)Social . All four committees are to be run by the youth in Kluang for the youth in Kluang. What a great idea!

Kluang's top cop has a mammoth task to do. He says:"Kepuasan menyumbang kepada masyarakat tempatan terutamanya kepada belia kita adalah sesuatu yang tidak boleh dinilaikan dengan wang!"

What impressed me was a scene when a group of children aged around 4-6 greeted ACP Fawzi when he walked passed them. Almost everyone kissed his hand. He could get connected with the children so easily. I took a photo of him with the kids.

Let's hope that everybody in Kluang will heed the advice of the OCPD and play a part in helping and assisting the youth to suceed in life.

In conclusion, if Malaysia has another 10 OCPDs like ACP Fawzi, then we have dozens of hope for many gold medals in Sea Games and also the Olympics!

Muar Youth Is in Your Hand

MUAR, 17th May 2008 (Saturday)- Muar youth deserves more!

As a member of the public,I was lucky enough to have an opportunity to present my own views on the issue of our youth to our new Deputy Youth & Sports minister,YB Wee Jeck Seng on the sideline of Forum Perdana Pemimpin Belia in Muar.

YB Wee, has spoken fondly about his plans and visions for our Malaysian youth. I am very impressed with his hands-on approach, where he wanted to listen first hand from voices on the ground, especially from the horse's mouth.

He has expressed concern on the challenges faced by our youth today. With an immediate effect, he expected his officers to touch base with the targeted youth group and those officers according to him, must live up to the people's expectation and to "fix up" the problem!

I submitted four challenges faced by the youth in Muar to him: 1)District library 2) Muar Stadium 3)Muar Swimming pool 4)Basketball courts

1)District Library
With only 12 years left for us to realise Wawasan 2020,not to mention our MSC,Cyberjaya or Iskandar Dvelopment, I am sad to announce that Muar district library has no either computers or broadband for the public!

After 15 years, I revisited the Muar library. It is in a sorry state. Lack of innovations,lack of ideas and lack of maintanance. (and they may tell you lack of funding!) It is a very basic library like during the 1980s,if not 1970s. For the "little Napoleans" who held responsible, wake up! wake up!

Why don't we install internet to attract our youth to stay in the library instead of cyber cafes?

Why don't we create a conducive environment for our youth to learn ICT and promote a strong reading culture in a "contained & control environment"?

2)Muar Stadium
Out of 10 Muarians, only one know that the actual name is called Stadium Sultan Ibrahim Muar. Out of 10 people,11 of them shook their heads when you mentioned about this stadium.

Basketball courts without baskets, damaged tracks, broken fencing and etc.

Why don't the government utilise it as a Rakan Muda hub to train, groom and contain our youth but rather allow them to go loitering at shopping centres, game centres, warongs and son become Mat Rempit?

Why don't the government brighten up the Staduim so that all activities can be run till 10pm when the light turn off automatically.

When body energy exhausted, our youth head home straight.

3)Muar Swimming Pool
The latest census indicated that Muar, has a population of about 365,000. But, I am again sad to announce that we live in a district without a public swimming pool.

Local government may claim that the running costs to repair and maintance the one and only swimming in town is costly.

So, if you are incapable of running it, then privatise it! Muarians need to learn and swim. Muarians need a place for their hobby. Muarians do pay taxes and deserve the basic sporting facilities!

4)Basketball Court Infront Of High School Muar
Three young boys played basketball at the court till 7.45pm. The sky turned dark, a group of "bicycle gang" arrived, wrecked the 3 poor buys without a reason. They went home crying with a blue-black face.

Why don't the authority brighthen up the basketball court for safety reasons, so that our youth can continue to use up their energy for their hobby up till 10p.m?

In sports terms,too much time has been spent in playing "Tai-Chi" and dancing "Tango" among our officers(what they don't really understand is they are the Servants to the people).

I cited an example to YB Wee that I had submitted my application to join Rakan Muda in 1991, and yet to receive my membership!

YB Wee (log on to: weejeckseng.blogspot.com) himself had led by example turun padang and listened carefully to the voices on the ground. Let's pray (sometime it is least powerful to just hope) that his officers are intellengent enough to also "turn padang".

To YB Wee, thank you for being a good listener. We wish you the very best. Muar youth is our hope for the future, and what the Celcom's tagline goes:".....is in your hand!"

*** Happy Wesak day to all Malaysians!

You are not working today because it is a public holiday, you are sipping your favorite Kopi-O with your papers at home. Very comfortable and relax.

But out there in Sichuan, China, as many as more than 30,000 earth quake victims, young and old, are still fighting for lives when they are trapped under the rumbles crying loud for help. It is painful, very painful and every second counts.....

TSM had launched a donation drive. We call on you, warm hearted Malaysians, to donate to any organisations that you trusted. Please donate generously, straight from your heart!

Give Back Not Up

Muar has done it again!

A Child Safety Alert Campaign was held at Chung Hwa 2A on Saturday, 10th May 2008.

It attracted more than 1000 school children,parents and the public for an educational and memorable weekend. The event was officiated by Deputy Education minister, YB Dr.Wee Ka Siong.

The responsible newspaper, Sin Chew Daily should be congratulated for organising the anti-crime campaign specially targeted at school children within the Muar district.

Its Muar bureau Chief Mr.L.B Teo on an exclusive telephone interview by TSM says:"We believe that educating the young ones is definitely very effective. We also hope to carry on this campaign to benefit more people all year round." To Mr.L.B Teo,we say WELL DONE! WELL DONE! Muar is so proud of you!

It was a smart move indeed because in crime prevention, we must engage not only the adults BUT also our younger generations and senior citizens at home to play an active role.

I am an English papers reader for years until I recently discovered about the beauty of our Chinese newspapers. Their regional section, which reports local news is so powerful that almost every single message could be reached out to the local communities instantly.

Be it a 10-metre python in your house or a car fallen into the monsoon drain in town, they would be reported as news with colorful photos attached the next day. For the same reason, they are effective in creating public awareness in crime prevention measures and Community Policing.

Their reporters too, are simply amazing. To them, speed does matter for exclusive news. They are sometimes faster than the local pizza delivery boy!

Meanwhile, the co-sponsor for the event,Super Food Marketing Sdn. Bhd is very generous indeed. It had carried out its Corporate Social Responsibilty(CSR) by supporting all 26 roadshows nationwide. Its Director, Mr.Steven Lim delivered a remarkable speech in Muar. Applying the theory of instant beveages in his speech,He says:"We need a 4-in-1 approach to make this campaign a success. Parents, schools, our society and NGOs must come together to build a safer living environment for our children and their future."

Muar Police also supported the event by hosting a mini photo exhibition, led by Chief Inspector Hj.Abdul Wahab and his dedicated team.(The same team representing IPD Muar won the Best Customer Service award at Kota Tinggi on 27th April 2008) Young children and parents were seen spending time looking at the photos of innocent victims and the missing ones. Hj.Abdul Wahab played the role of a PR manager for the police, given out safety tips to the children about the do's and don's.

The theme of the day, "Child Safety Alert Campaign" was presented by the "Friendly Police Ambassador" DSP Khoo Leng Huat,who has a deep passion for the well being of the local communities, especially in Community Policing.

Almost half of his audiences, comprising school children were all entertained by his interesting stories and witty jokes, nearly earning him a new title of "Police Idol" among his young fans. Being fluent in almost three languages and Chinese dialects plus a great sense of humor, DSP Khoo had perfected the art of effective communiciation not only with children but got connected with the parents easily.

I would think THIS is a clever strategy adopted by the police to enter schools and educate the young children,instilling them with right moral values and to explain the roles and functions of the men in blue within our society.

In my humble opinion, our traffic police should team up with JPJ to adopt a similar approach, enter schools to educate secondary school students about road safety and responsibility of being a clever road user. Do it when they are young, do it when they are receptive to your ideas but not until when they became Mat Rempit,Bohsia or Bohjan!

Again,Education, Education and Education!

The moral of the story: never merely condemn the police force when there is a crisis, but offer constructive criticisms. BUT:

1)Try and think of what you can do to correct the situation.
2)Play your role effectively.
3)Work with others who share the same commitment.
4)Achieve the goal together.

In the case of wanting for a better security and personal safety around you, give back but not giving up!

Again,Crime PreVenTion Is a ShaRed ResponSibiLity.

A HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL MUMS AT TAMAN SRI MAHARANI MUAR, AND TO ALL MOTHERS AROUND THE WORLD!*****

What, When ,Who ,Where ,Why & How (5W+1H)

Rules of Communiciation is vital during emergencies and to save lives. The concept of 5 W+ 1H should be practiced widely by members of the public when making emergency calls. They stand for What, When,Who Where,Why and How.

A distressed caller should be calm enough to pass on the essential information such as name, contact number, location and type of emergency to the auhorities in the shortest possible time so that prompt action can be taken.

In most cases, use the key words(5 W+1H) in simple Bahasa Malaysia. The inability to speak in simple B.M is no longer an excuse among Malaysians especially after 50 years of independence. Look at those Bangladeshi workers around us, they speak better B.M than some of us when they were in this country for less than six months!

Meanwhile, 150,000 Police Hotline stickers sponsored by China Press, MCCC,KCC and others were widely distributed since August 2007 among the public within Muar. It stated the direct telephone numbers of police call centres at three levels such Muar(district),Johor(state) and Bukit Aman(Federal).

The Police, on the other hand should train up some of their telephone operators at call centres to become fast thinkers,in the hope to transform them to be the finest PR officers on earth. They must be friendly,polite and able to calm down the distressed callers. Those working at customer counters should also able to respond accurately and quickly.

You may ask:"What if my report is intepreted as a non- issue or rejected by the officer on duty?" Days are gone when your reports were conveniently rejected by tactless officers.

Last July, former Johor CPO Dato'Hussin Ismail had introduced a "Contact Me Campaign" where every OCPD contact number is displayed infront of every police station with clear explanation in Bahasa Malaysia,English,Mandarin and Tamil.

Contrary to the olden days where many laymen felt more comfortable to find a "middleman" or "runner"to accompany them to police stations, you have now the direct access to your police top brass.

You may now have access to your OCPD to report your grievances if 1) bribery by officers 2)poor customer service 3) report rejected.

Besides, the public could meet face- to- face and to go heart-to-heart with the OCPD on "Police Open Day" every Friday 9.30am to 12.00pm to lodge your complaints or just sharing your many ideas and suggestions. In Muar, residents associations had in many instances seized the chance to bring along their neighbours and friends to say hello to the OCPD on Fridays.

With so many clever ideas in place, our men in blue should make known to the public the simple communiciation channels available via awareness campaigns and strive hard to pass on the correct message to every corner of the society. Nothing is more effective than educating the public.

Now, who dare say that our police officers are unreachable and not responsive?

Home Minister launches "Community Policing" in Johor

The state level Community Policing(CP) campaign in Johor was launched by Home minister Dato' Seri Syed Hamid Albar on Sunday,27 April 2008 in Kota Tinggi,Johor. Guests of honour included Inspector general of police Tan Sri Musa Hassan, Johor menteri besar Dato' Abdul Ghani Othman, Johor police chief Dato' Mokhtar Shariff Mohd and Johor deputy police chief Dato' Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah. TSM had the honour to present the CP story in Muar to the Home minister and his VIP guests.

For 9 minutes, we explained to our guests the many strategic methods adopted in Muar to achieve positive results. Among them, a 3- in- 1 "smart partnership" between the police force,our residents and mass media is neccesary. We are always of the opinion that,if each party plays its own role effectively, we will have a safer and better town to live in.

The newspaper articles exhibited by China Press ( Muar Branch) had created a great impact on Dato' Syed Hamid Albar. The truth is: this Chinese daily had done a good job beyond the call of duty and out of passion for the security sake of the locals. For all 15 sessions of police dialogues hosted in 15 different locations in the district of Muar, it had allocated two full pages of colored articles each time to help create better awareness in crime prevention measures among the readers and town folks. We were told that a two- page colored advertisements on papers had a market value of above RM 10,000.00 for every print. In other words, 15 prints=RM 150,000.00!! We should shout out loud: Thank you ...China Press.... You CARE for us...... We LOVE U!

The sad news? Many papers are NOT interested to cover the local news about crime prevention measures initiated by either the police force or by the members of the public. Let's hope that there is a mindset change for the papers and their editors, to be more pro-active in creating social consciousness first among the readers and then the public by allocating more space for more success stories of our men in blue, apart from the regular negative reports.

Meanwhile, IGP was impressed with our briefing about CP in Muar. We seized the opportunity to present him a copy of our handbook( a copy each to Home minister & Johor Police Chief too),an example of real people real story, attached with many articles written by our fellow peace loving resident Mr.Tam Yong Yuee for NST and THE STAR and many colorful photos for our CP activities at home. Tan Sri Musa congratulated us for the job well done. During the press conference later of the day, the Home minister singled out Muar as a good example for others to emulate. We have this to say: the credit goes to all peace loving Muarians especially our TSM residents, young and old everybody included! Syabas!

On the same event, 13 police districts have their own exhibition booths and they were competing against each other for two top awards. IPD Muar scored a Gold for the Best Customer Service Award! Our exhbition booth is simple but comfortable, filled with the latest photos and newspaper articles. We did a lot of explanation to the visitors. Police hotline stickers were given out as free gift. Both myself and Tam representing the public, K.H Lee representing the press and Hj.Abdul Wahab,Effendi and Azizi were from the poilice force. We worked like a dream team! (Remember this magic formula:Police+Public+Media= SUCCESS!)

It was anyway a self- sponsored trip from Muar to Kota Tinggi spending a full day but it was worthwhile, because we managed to share with our policy makers about the importance of a good implementation system to make the CP a success. In short, we must implement the CP concept correctly with creative and innovative ideas,to continue and monitor along the way, collecting feedback from the public, review the weaknesses, improve the concept, reinforce the idea and continue to work with the general public. Together we can make Malaysia a safer and better place to live, work and play.