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Unemployment, living costs and illegal workers are blamed

'Retire to an English-speaking, crime-free land of rainforests and tropical beaches,' entreats a year-old Malaysian government campaign  to attract wealthy visitors.

The beaches and rainforests are as attractive as ever, but a sharp rise in crime is giving the lie to the campaign's 'crime-free' claims.

Malaysia is battling a  record rise in thefts, assaults, rapes and murders against students and office workers in recent months, which has sparked outrage and demands for tough action.

Violent crime jumped 24 per cent nationwide in the first seven months of this year compared with the same period last year, with about 170,000 cases recorded. In the capital, violent crime rose 9.5 per cent over the same period.

In one of the worst incidents last month, two female Chinese students were attacked by machete-wielding mugger while walking to their campus during the day.

One of them died in hospital of wounds inflicted by the muggers.

Many residents in middle-class suburbs are taking action. 'I have two dogs, private around-the-clock security and an alarm system that calls me and not the police [if there is a break-in],' said sales manager Angela Tan.

A mother of two living in the crime-affected United Subang Jaya suburb north of the capital, she said: 'Still I fear leaving the house for work.'

Experts blame unemployment and the increasing cost of living for the surge  in crime but  some Malaysians blame the estimated 1.7 million illegal foreign workers.

'Police are simply unable to handle the situation and fear is spreading among the people, especially women and children,' said Lim Guan Eng,  secretary-general of the opposition Democratic Action Party.

'Not enough money is being put into fighting crime.  The police are underpaid, understaffed and under-equipped.'

The government is adding 7,000 new police to the 92,000-member force to address the problem. It says it will upgrade officers' skills and increase wages to beat the temptation of corruption.

Police recently introduced other crime-fighting initiatives, including an SMS tip-off system. Police are setting up more 'beat bases' in crime-prone areas and installing emergency button systems for  calling police in areas frequented by tourists.

During question time  in Parliament last week,  Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi announced a five-year plan to improve police efficiency and competency and create a DNA data bank of criminals. But he shot down a plan to use  the army to fight crime.

Critics  doubt the government's anti-crime measures will succeed.

'We need a national crime prevention plan with sufficient funding to make it work,' said lawyer and  government critic S.Sivanesan.

'They [the ruling politicians and police] consider surveillance of political opponents as more important than fighting criminals.'



Malaysia grapples with crime wave