By Syed Jaymal Zahiid
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 - Deputy Home Minister Datuk Abu Seman Yusop told Parliament today that Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan’s contract was extended for another year because of his “excellent performance.”
But the DAP’s Lim Kit Siang, who had spearheaded a campaign to remove Musa, responded by calling the IGP “incompetent” because the country’s crime rate had soared in recent years.
Despite even government statistics showing the crime rate was high and a major public concern, Abu Seman defended the IGP and claimed the IGP had performed to expectations.
In his reply to Lim during Question Time in Parliament today, Abu Seman said that Musa, 57, and with 38 years experience as a police officer, had met all the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) set by the Chief Secretary to the Government.
“His reappointment as IGP is also due to the fact that he has yet to realise his efforts to improve the police force under the five-year strategic plan that started in 2007 and is scheduled to end in 2011. This plan was his own initiative,” the deputy minister added.
Musa’s tenure as IGP was meant to end on Sept 13 this year but Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had decided to extend his contract to another year, inviting scathing criticism from mainly opposition leaders who felt that Musa was unfit to lead the police force.
The previous Prime Minister and Home Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had revealed last year that serious crimes had increased by 13 per cent nationwide, with gang robbery without the use of firearms rising by more than 159 per cent.
Opposition leaders believe that Musa, as the IGP, should shoulder the blame for the steady rise in the crime rate.
“He is incompetent. A recent opinion poll conducted by the government itself showed that the public are sceptical of the police force’s ability to reduce crime,” Lim from the DAP said.
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