GEORGE TOWN – The Royal Malaysian Police processes an average of 365,000 police reports a month, while prison authorities have to cope with overcrowding at its facilities, and immigration agencies struggle with issues like the voluminous stream of passport applications.
There are now around 75,000 prisoners in detention centres nationwide, but the capacity is just 65,000. This has led to overcrowding.
Revealing this, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said that the 11 main enforcement agencies under the ministry are facing undue challenges due to the growing demand for strong enforcement and marshalling of security.
“This can be addressed if our officers are equipped with the right values and strong character. Over time, we shall overcome the adversities of meeting citizens’ expectations,” he said.
Saifuddin, who is also the state assemblyman for Pantai Jerejak in Penang, was speaking at the breaking of fast ceremony hosted by the ministry at the Sunshine Square banquet hall here today.
Elaborating on the whopping number of police reports, Saifuddin said that some of them are related to scams, serious crime, slander and insulting the royal institution while a fair number also revolve around race and religious issues.
Recently, police formed a task force to investigate cases of slander involving insult of the royal institution, race and religious taunting.
Saifuddin also spoke about how some parents have become irresponsible until they forgot to even collect their children's identity cards.
“About 30% of the new MyKid identity cards for children are left unclaimed at the national registration departments nationwide,” he said.
He also pledged that he will personally ensure that up to 10,000 cases of backlog applications for identity cards would be settled by this year.
Some 6,000 have been settled since Saifuddin assumed office in the Home Ministry six months ago.
He added that the maritime enforcement patrols also have their job cut out for them, as they need to patrol a radius of some 340,000 sq km of the country’s boundary seawaters to prevent major trespassing.
Saifuddin said that the maritime authorities have detected more refugees seeking to enter the country due to their economic and political strife in their areas.
There are also cases of encroachment by foreign fishing vessels. – The Vibes, March 8, 2023
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