KUCHING: Housing Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg encourages urbanites to strengthen the spirit of volunteerism among themselves.
The Satok assemblyman said such spirit is particularly important in crime prevention, in which the community is involved through neighbourhood watch committees (KRT) or village security and development committees (JKKK).
“The community should have a close relationship because when we have that kind of relationship between the movements such as KRT (in Satok we have 12 KRTs), JKKK and the authorities, we can nip the problem in the bud before it becomes big,” he said when launching the Petra Jaya Parliamentary-level Women Anti-Crime Programme here yesterday.
He also said it was vital for the authorities and community to have close cooperation or smart partnership between each other for the social problems to be resolved.
“Petra Jaya parliamentary constituency, which includes Satok, Samariang and Tupong, are areas within the city. We do not want negative influences from outside to influence the mind and thinking of our people.
“What is important is the spirit of volunteerism, there is interaction between the community at large, as well as the local authorities. In that case, whatever information that we receive, we can try to mitigate before it becomes big.”
Abang Johari also encouraged the local communities to constantly hold dialogues with the police so that they can identify crime trends.
Meanwhile, Petra Jaya Parliamentary Constituency Women, Family and Community Development Council chairperson Senator Datuk Dayang Madinah Tun Openg mentioned forms of violence against women that had become more chronic of late, namely sexual harassment, rape, domestic violence and human trafficking.
“Whereas for the children, they are also the target of kidnapping for sex slaves, beggars’ syndicate and others. There were even cases of kidnapping and rape to the extent that the victims were killed brutally without any feeling of humanity.”
On the event yesterday, she said it was among the activities planned by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry for all parliamentary constituencies nationwide every year.
“The ministry has established Women, Family and Community Development Council in every parliamentary area by appointing a chairperson and committee that will act as the implementor of all the activities.”
She said the objective of the programme was to increase the community’s knowledge, exposure and awareness, especially women, on issues regarding domestic violence, molest (rape), drug trafficking, cyber crime, sexual harassment and human trafficking.
Besides that, it was also held to create awareness as well as apprehension of all types of criminal issues that always or might happen in the community, besides providing understanding and knowledge to women, especially teenagers, on criminal tactics and ways to overcome them.
She said the programme yesterday comprised theory and practical sessions such as talks, discussion forum, interactive discussion, role play and self-defence demonstration.