A typical Mike Spillane TV series or movie loves to use the line "crime doesn't pay". As long as the long arm of the law does not catch-up, crime pays well and it pays very well for school droputs and kids from wrong neighbourhood and urban slums.
Tian Chua's political portal, Malaysia Chronicle wrote a report of a study by some French woman to claim that the majority of the underworld support BN thus the blame on underworld activities could be blame on BN.
It is not known whether the French woman has any credibility and if Malaysia Chronicle is in the know of that study, did they helped to bring her in contact with the local hoodlums?
Basically, it is pointless to bring politics into the subject because the underworld is about making illegal money and they will support who ever they see will be in power and can do them favours.
How would Tian Chua explain to the drastically rising number of underworld-related businesses in Selangor and Penang since Pakatan Rakyat took over the two states?
PR support organised crime?
When the Internal Security Act and Emergency Ordinance was repealed, there was an increase in gangland war death. Online journal, Globe has a good article of what happened here. The article gave a mention of our fellow blogger Dave Avran.
During the gangland war, the public was scared and worry for their safety, but the opposition were blaming the police as incompetence and on cases of any arrest of gangsters and organised crime, opposition lawyers are the first to offer their legal assistance and political support.
The opposition demanded law enforcement "should be resolute and ruthless in dealing with the leaders and key players of these evil syndicates."
On the first raid on these gangsters hideout, the opposition were the first to accused law enforcement of infringing on human rights and question the procedures. PKR Vice President insist on being together in any raid but eventually copped out.
Subsequently, after much public outcry and calls from the police, government submitted to Parliment to amend the Prevention of Crime Act (1959) to combat organised crime with preventive elements but still use the power of the courts.
The opposition goes to the street to claim PCA was ISA 2.0 but when asked for a solution to address orghanised crime and catch the big fish they yearn for, their answer was to dissolve the Special Branch (SB) and reassigned them to Criminal Investigation Department (CID) work.
It was a political answer meant to discredit SB, which monitor and gather information on wayward political activities, including of BN politicians. SB deal with security issue and internal threat, while CID deal with crime.
Then they cook up the excuse that BN cannot be trusted. Who then? Trust the minority Pakatan Rakyat MPs?
So it is obvious that Tian Chua-controlled Malaysia Chronicle is trying to accuse others for an offense, which they are part off, to deviate the heat. It is typically Anwar style of psywar.
That accusation towards BN has the intention to propagate the leak of Dato Zahid Hamidi's meeting with Pekida as a collusion with Malay gangsters. Earlier, Zahid released a list of 49 names of organised crime groups, which are mostly Chinese and Indians.
Read also this study on Chinese underworld here.
If that is the intention, with 97% Chinese votes giving support to DAP and their allies and Anwar claim Pakatan has majority of the popular votes, where would gangland money be betting on? It leads to DAP and Pakatan Rakyat.
So put aside politics.
Deny honest Malaysians
The underworld business is about corruption and dishonest people in power. It is about corruption at the individual level. Unless the government deals with them seriously, they will destroy the legitimate economy and those hardworking common people.
We've written before of how Malay and honest working retailers could not make a living because of competition of money laundering operation using retail businesses as front.
Several Malay bloggers had identifed 99 Speedmart as a Chinese-owned convenience store that should be boycotted in retaliation to 97% Chinese boycotting UMNO and BN candidates in the last general election.
Little did they know that even if the boycott was successful, it will have no impact on 99 Speedmart. According to a street source and the information is reproduced verbatim, 99 Speedmart have a 350-400 outlets network built over 4-5 years.
It does not really rely on retail sales but are outlets for money laundering. The retail business is merely a front and to justify it's role.
This is an elusive big fish MACC would want to get their hands on.
For the time being, the latest two catches yesterday by MACC and Police on two veteran Chinese police sargeants in their 50s, Lim Ah Bah and Tan Kim Hoi are good start for AMLA cases.
Big business
Talking about big fish, this blog had written an article in 2010 here about the anomosity against Tan Sri Musa Hassan.
While much was revealed about BN politicians association with criminals, it is not sufficient to support the notion of associating the underworld with BN. However, it proves how elusive and indicative of the big pay-off from the underworld economy.
The posting should provide a background information on the current lawsuits by Dato Ramli Yusof and his lawyer, Rosli Dahlan against him, Tan Sri Gani Patail, Tan Sri Abu Kassim, Police and MACC.
When Ramli was CCID Director, the portfolio of organised crime came under him. His association with organised crime is legendary in the police community but now, he and his lawyer is trying to play innocent by suing for defamatory investigation.
The underworld is big business thus anyone with the power to hold back investigation can reap wealth out of it.
In the article, a credible source estimate the local black economy to be worth RM500 billion. That estimate does not mention whether it in terms of "GDP" generated or "asset" worth. However, in a Kinibiz article dated November 19 of a 3-part series on underground economy, the number is clearer. [Read it here.]
Stephanie Jacob wrote:
For example in 2010, then home minister Hishammuddin Hussein said that the government believed that the illegal or illicit segment of the informal economy alone had grown to almost RM10 billion and included a slew of activities.
More recently the country’s deputy finance minister, Ahmad Maslan was quoted in The Star newspaper as saying that the country’s so called ‘black economy’ stood at 30% of GDP.The "official" estimate could still be an underestimate.
An Aljazeera report here quoted a UN studies claimed organised crime is worth US$90 billion a year in East Asia. As much as US$16.3bn worth of heroin and US$15bn of methamphetamine are traded annually in the region.
Malaysia used to be a major centre for drug trafficking till government made a drastic step to make drug trafficking offense as punishment by death sentence.
Yet a DAP MP had recently described it as cruel. It only goes back to an old DAP traditional association with drug trafficking.
Back in the late 70s, Karpal Singh made a name for himself to win several sure lose drug cases. It was also controversial because Karpal Singh broke the "picket line" to an agreed boycott of drug cases by Bar Council.
Apathy
To most Malaysians, they feel organised crime like drug only affects few. Consumer don't care. They will go to 66 Speedmart fo cheap good. If those Bundle used cloth stores are sourced from drug addicts stolen goods, they still visit those stores because it is cheap.
On one hand they complained of house break in, drugs, prostituition, etc, but on the other hand, they support the money flow of illegal activities.
In a study mentioned in the Kinibiz article, they highlighted that the negative impacts of black economy include inefficient goods and workers being deprived of their rights and guarantees.
The impact of the illicit informal economy is far reaching and beyond criminal activities but into lives of common people and small and big businesses.
If the government is concerned for crime and organised crime, they have to be serious and recognise the damaging impact of the illegitimate economy on the legitimate economy. Until that money tap is turned off and crime does not pay, it only takes 4-5 years to see the devastating damage on the nation.