New SACF chief to focus on early crime prevention
KUCHING: The newly-appointed Sarawak AntiCrime Foundation ( SACF) chairperson, Nangka assemblyman Dr Annuar Rapaee, wants to focus on early prevention programmes for students with disciplinary problems at schools as well as in residential areas.
Dr Annuar took over the duty from the outgoing chairperson, Assistant Minister for Resource Planning Datuk Naroden Majais, at a symbolic ceremony inside the media room of the State Legislative Assembly here yesterday.
“I want to thank the government for giving me the trust to lead the foundation. Our function is mainly on educating and enhancing awareness on crime prevention.
“As such, public involvement is crucial, from the school level to the community. We need every component of the society to work together as we can’t just rely on the authorities,” he said.
Meanwhile, Naroden said that education was key to crime prevention, which should begin from home.
“A good family institution is where children are raised with great moral character and this should always start from home. If each family practises good values and discipline, we will have a safer and more secure society,” he said.
Crimes, he added, were committed by members of the society and to prevent crimes, there was a need to develop a culture to hate crimes within the society.
“It is for this reason that the foundation was set up and I was made the chairperson in 2014. We worked closely with various government agencies and law enforcement to educate our people about the risks of crime and crime prevention,” he said.
I want to thank the government for giving me the trust to lead the foundation. Our function is mainly on educating and enhancing awareness on crime prevention. Dr Annuar Rapaee, Nangka assemblyman and SACF chairman
Naroden added that youths, making almost 45 per cent of the population, were the most vulnerable and at risk of bad influences by their peers and friends.
“At a young age, their temptation of wanting to experience something – be it good or bad – is high. More importantly, crimes are not only committed by the less-to- do families, but also the well-to- do families nowadays,” he said.
As such, he said many of the programmes implemented by the foundation were targeted at schools, parents-teachers associations, community leaders and the communities.
“Changing the culture of a society cannot be realised with one or two programmes only. There must be ongoing campaigns with differing priorities because population will continue to increase and people will progress with time and technology,” he said.
Naroden assured all that the foundation would continue to work closely with government agencies like police, Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission, Immigration Department, Education Department, schools as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to educate and enhance awareness among the public of crime prevention.
“Everyone needs to play a role to build a safer and more secure city for all of us to live in,” he added.
SACF secretary Datuk Dr Chai Khin Chung was also present at the function.