Though crime rates in Malaysia lag behind those of many other countries, including some developed nations, expats have voiced concern over what seems to be a rise in crime incidents. Editor Chad Merchant recently interviewed Superintendent of Police Choo Lily, a long-time officer with the Royal Malaysian Police who now heads up the International Liaison Unit.

Punctuated by a number of alarming, high-profile cases, crime in Malaysia found itself in the spotlight in 2013. Though very few of these headline-making cases involved expats, the nature of the crimes put foreign residents on edge. For most expats living in Malaysia, any brushes with criminal activity typically involve petty theft – bag-snatching, car break-ins, and the like. However, some cases are more serious, involve home burglaries and physical threats.

Largely in response to the Malaysian government’s acknowledgment of expat concerns about crime and the understanding that the country will continue to rely on expat talent in order to reach its goals of becoming a fully developed country by 2020, the Royal Malaysian Police in 2013 set up the International Liaison Unit to serve as a link between the international community – both resident and tourist – and the country’s police force. The Expat interviewed Superintendent of Police Choo Lily, the woman tasked with heading up this unit – a police officer with both an impressive background and a deep appreciation for law enforcement. Here’s what she had to say.

The Expat: Please tell our readers about your background in law enforcement and why you chose this career.

Choo Lily: I joined the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) in February 1981 due to the encouragement of my late father, who was a rank-and-file policeman in RMP. I had actually applied to join the teaching profession, too, and the RMP offer came through first, so I accepted it. And I have to admit, I came to realize that being a police officer was my calling because I have always felt very strongly about the rights of victims of crimes, and to be able to correct the injustice they suffered and to bring the perpetrators to justice, without sounding like a cliché! It gives me personal satisfaction.

I have had numerous postings throughout my career in RMP. My first posting was as Investigation Officer with the then Cawangan Anti Dadah (now Narcotic department ). And then RMP decided to establish an all-women officers team to investigate sexual offences and child abuse cases and I was reassigned as one of the pioneer lady officers in the team in 1986. After eight years in that unit, I was posted as the prosecuting officer in the court in Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur. I was promoted to Assistant Superintendent of Police in 1996. Subsequently, I was posted as an instructor in law to PULAPOL, the RMP training center in Kuala Lumpur, where we conducted law classes for all the fresh recruits. From there, I was posted back to Federal Police Headquarters at Bukit Aman in the Anti-Vice Division. In 2004, I was promoted to Deputy Superintendent of Police and in 2007 I was transferred to Kuala Lumpur Contingent HQ, where I was Head of the Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Unit (D11).

What do you say to address expat and visitor concerns of crime in Malaysia? Would you say there is a perception problem, or is crime actually growing worse and/or more violent in nature?

The crime situation in Malaysia, particularly Kuala Lumpur, is part factual and part perception. When I say perception, it is because in this globalised and borderless world, where information technology is just a fingertip away, messages of an actual crime get relayed all over the world – and numerous times. This gives a perception that the crime has happened multiple times whereas in actual fact all these messages are referring to the same crime. But on other hand, crime does happen like in every other part of the world. We, the RMP and the government of Malaysia, acknowledge that fact and therefore, as part of the Government Transformation Programme (GTP), the Reducing Crime National Key Result Area (NKRA) initiative has focused on crime prevention as one of its key thrusts. As Malaysia heads towards becoming a fully developed nation by 2020, and with Kuala Lumpur being increasingly chosen as a preferred place of business, commercial transactions, residential, and retirement location by foreigners, more emphasis is needed to ensure the safety and security of the expat community, hence the setting up of the International Liaison Unit.

How did you come to be chosen to head up the International Liaison Unit?

In October 2013, as part of the NKRA initiatives to spearhead the RMP to world-class policing and also in line with the RMP’s effort to address the increasing volume of tourists and foreigners into Malaysia, the International Liaison Unit (ILU) was set up to act as a liaison between the RMP and the foreign communities regarding policing issues. We realized that most foreigners have no idea where to go or what to do if they needed police assistance or to obtain feedback to any police reports they lodged. I was selected to head ILU because of my proficiency in the English language and my ability to speak several other languages. Apart from that, I have a proven track record in interpersonal skills. Being a female officer in this position also enables me to reach out more effectively to the foreign women and children who are victims of crime, something which requires a more sensitive and softer approach. I was subsequently promoted to Superintendent of Police and together with two other officers, DSP Zulkifli Jasmin Bin Hashim and DSP Thamarai Letchmi Muthusamy, we got the ILU up and running. Our office is situated at Lot 52, GRN 73458, Jalan Petaling, 50000 Kuala Lumpur.

Would you explain the primary role of the ILU?

Among the key roles and functions of the ILU are to function as a liaison between the RMP and the foreign communities in Kuala Lumpur as well as throughout the country. The ILU will function as an intermediary between RMP and the foreign diplomatic community as well as the foreign business and expat communities in the event of the latter needing any assistance from the RMP with regards to policing issues. To this end, the Head of ILU and its officers have paid courtesy calls to numerous members of the foreign diplomatic community to establish a rapport and thereby facilitate valuable informal networking between the relevant organizations.

Kuala Lumpur Tourist Police also now comes directly under the purview of this unit, therefore one of the main functions of ILU is to provide assistance to investigate criminal cases reported by foreign tourists in Kuala Lumpur. Apart from the above functions, the ILU will also function to coordinate and facilitate visits by foreign dignitaries to Kuala Lumpur. The ILU is also responsible for crime prevention in relation to foreign tourists, expats, and those in the diplomatic communities. As such, ILU has formulated crime prevention strategies and activated these strategies in Kuala Lumpur, with special emphasis on areas where there is a prevalence of expats. As part of our crime prevention strategies,the ILU conducts safety awareness and crime prevention campaigns in Kuala Lumpur, targeting foreign communities and those who provide services and support to foreign communities.

How does the ILU function under or in tandem with the Reducing Crime NKRA initiative?

The NKRA is focused on nationwide crime reduction, addressing perception, and improving the police force. The crime reduction programs range from increasing police visibility to target hardening, e.g., CCTV installation and community policing. The ILU looks fromthe tourist and expat angle under the bigger “umbrella” of NKRA by being the intermediary between this group and the police force, coordinating crime prevention efforts based on feedback from the tourists and expats and ultimately, ensuring that they feel safe and secure while traveling or living in Malaysia.

We have had expats contact us recently saying they want to move away from Malaysia because of their personal experiences with crime and the apparent perception that nothing can be done (or is being done). We try to address their concerns logically – crime exists virtually everywhere, including their home countries – but what would you say to expats who have had experiences with home break-ins, snatch theft, etc. What is Malaysia’s attitude towards addressing crime?

We agree that crime happens everywhere, in first world countries as well as undeveloped countries. We at the RMP take the crime situation in Malaysia very seriously by continuously tracking and analyzing crime trends, ensuring we take the necessary corrective actions by formulating appropriate crime reduction strategies, and by ensuring that our response time towards incidents are prompt and as immediate as possible. Snatch theft remains a challenge, hence the NKRA’s recent proposal to refocus on addressing snatch theft incidents aggressively by looking at its root causes. We have seen a downward trend in house break-ins cases this year and I am confident this will continue. As mentioned earlier, the ILU was set up to facilitate a smooth and open flow of communications between the police and the expatriate community. It is important that we are aware of the expatriate community’s specific concerns on crime (which might differ from the average Malaysian) so that the ILU office can assist to alleviate these concerns through increased police patrols, follow-ups on unsolved/active cases and providing security advice where necessary.

Our efforts are manifested in the many crime prevention programs that the RMP has initiated such as ‘Rakan Cop (Friend of the Police)’, High Profile Policing, ‘Balai League Table’ etc. All these programs will bear fruit only if there is substantial community participation. What we would like to request is that the community itself takes basic safety and precautionary measures to help itself, and for people to get to know their local policemen and policewomen, and to be aware of where the nearest police station to your residential or company premises is located in cases of emergency, and to be vigilant. Help us to help you.

Homepage Highlight Photo credit: Keith Allison / Foter / CC BY-SA

Read more:

• Crime In Malaysia: Should Expats be Worried?
• Results from the Expat Survey on Crime in Malaysia
• ‘Low Crime’ Does Not Mean ‘No Crime’

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Source: The Expat Magazine October 2014