COMMENT The issue of crime, especially in the urban areas, has once again surfaced as a hot political issue.

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein was quoted as saying that the fear of crime is a result of 'public perception' , while Pemandu chief executive officer Idris Jala was reported as having asked the media to focus more on the crimes that have been solved, rather than those which have been committed.

Meanwhile, DAP MP for Petaling Jaya Utara Tony Pua seems to have been given conflicting sets of crime data on Selangor and has called for Pemandu and the Home Ministry to release detailed crime statistics by the type of crime and the places where they were committed.

It is very difficult to question the validity of the crime statistics since this data is collected, compiled and later disseminated to the various ministries and later the public at large by the police. An in-depth audit is required in order to get a better handle on the veracity of these statistics.

However, what we can do is to take a closer look at some of the international indexes which the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and various ministers including the prime minister, the home minister and the Pemandu CEO have used as ‘external validation' that the National Key Results Area (NKRA) on reducing crime is working as planned.

This ‘evidence' falls apart upon closer examination...