Malaysia has enough policemen, says PKR MP

PETALING JAYA: The police-to-citizen ratio in Malaysia is more than sufficient to safeguard citizens, said PKR lawmaker Sim Tze Tzin.

"There are currently 112,583 police officers in Malaysia, and a population of 28 million.

This makes the ratio about 1:249. This is well within the international standards," the Bayan Baru MP told The Star Online.

He was commenting on Home Minister Zahid Hamidi's claim that there was a lack of manpower in PDRM, resulting in a police-to-citizen ratio of 1:700.

"Our police-to-citizen ratio is actually better than Singapore's at 1:288 and Australia's at 1:257.

"However, only 18% of the force is tasked with fighting crime," Sim claimed.

"This is compared with 34% devoted to internal security and public order."

He said the international standards called for at least 82% of a nation's police force to work on combating daily crime.

Sim said he had gotten the statistics from the Home Ministry in the form of a written reply to DAP.

He called for the police and Home Ministry to focus on fighting crime.

"We have enough officers. PDRM must reform within themselves to prioritise crime-fighting."