In the past week, the central region town of Sibu was once again thrust into dubious limelight when a man was shot dead and his girlfriend injured as they were leaving a coffee shop after a late supper Jan 9.
That murder enhanced the perception that this once booming timber town is a hotbed of crimes, earning itself the unwanted moniker of ‘cowboy town’ of the state.
The police were quick to allay the apprehension of the people there with the usual ‘isolated incident’ statement.
However, netizens put paid to that assurance by posting that the murdered man, 30-year-old Ting Meng Min, as one of the four drugs kingpins in the state and that he was killed in a turf war.
Significantly, the police acknowledged that they had been monitoring Ting for a while and that drugs turf war was one of the angles they were looking into in their investigation. To their credit, the police reacted swiftly to the shooting by launching operation ‘Ops Cantas Khas’ to thwart any retaliatory attacks by cohorts of the slain man, which could lead to a gang war.
However, there is a need to clear Sibu of its unwanted reputation as a ‘lawless’ town. More has to be done besides implementing pre-emptive measures and solving murder cases.
To be fair to Sibu, it is indeed a peaceful town despite the fact that there had been several high profile murder cases occurring there in the past few years.
Anyone strolling down its streets would not be more likely to be robbed or threatened than in other towns in the state. Like elsewhere in the state, crime fighting must not be left to the police alone. Community leaders and the people themselves must play an active role in combating crimes in the town. One way to get the community to be involved in crime prevention is to step up neighbourhood watch patrols.
The authorities and corporate bodies should chip in by sponsoring equipment, vehicles and other needs for neighbourhood watch groups in the town.
It is time for the people to stop complaining about crimes in the town. They have to step up and be counted in cleaning up the image of their own town.