‘We need to have better civic education’
The lack of civicmindedness could be the cause of a society taking the law into its own hands, said lawyer Yusmadi Yusoff.
He was responding to a recent case involving a Yemeni university student who wanted to recover his bag snatched by a motorcyclist and ended up running over the thief.
Yusmadi, a criminal defence and human rights lawyer, said such acts occurred partly due to the fail- ure in the social and civic system.
“We don’t have a good system that is able to encourage better civic education.
“Such snatch theft cases are the symptoms of social problems.
“But, no one is addressing these symptoms.”
He said when these problems were not addressed, they led to more serious problems.
“Snatch thefts could lead to racial riot, death and assault. These could be indicators of extremism.
“My mother is an example of a victim who suffered from a snatch theft-turnedassault. Why did the robber have to hit her when he could have just taken her jewellery and leave the house?”
He also referred to the growing Islamic State threat in Malaysia and that this was a new social challenge that the authorities needed to address.
Yusmadi said it could be that law enforcement in the country had failed to safe-guard society, hence leading people to take justice into their own hands.
“The word is trust-deficit. Law enforcers need to earn the trust of the people.”