PETALING JAYA: Indian youth involvement in crime has to be addressed in the larger context if the intention is to reduce crime, said Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department P. Waytha Moorthy.
"Being leader of the marginalized Indians in the country I cannot just be a disinterested observer on the sidelines just because I am in government.
"In fact it is to the advantage of the government that I voice out the true sentiments of the people on the ground," he said.
"The problem is very much larger and if the real intent is to reduce the crime problem, then it has to be addressed in the larger context," he said in a statement.
Waytha Moorthy was responding to Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's "advice" for him to "toe the government line and not interfere with police work."
Waytha Moorthy had allegedly questioned the police's explanation that the five suspected gangsters killed in a shootout with the police in Penang last Monday was an act in self-defence.
He said his intention had been misunderstood and urged Ahmad Zahid to work with him and other non-govenmental organisations (NGO) to address the issue of Indian youth's involvement in crime.
"I do not interfere in police work but I believe the public perception of the police force is diminishing by their actions.
"The Home Minister has also to understand the issue is not simply of some gross criminals being killed in a justifiable manner. The issue in its entirety relates really to the wayward drift of young of the Indian community," he said.
He added that killing off the criminals would not solve the problem of rising crime rate in the country.
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