November 21st, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Living in Fear
After returning from my trip, I was shocked by more and more news of crimes happening around my housing area in Selayang.
Every phone call seems to convey bad news.
I got a call from the Monk telling me he was almost mugged by four guys in two motorbikes. He was walking to his car in broad daylight on a very busy street in Selayang when he sensed someone was following him.
When he stopped and looked, two motorbikes were trailing behind him. One of the motorbikers was shocked when the Monk suddenly looked at them and sped off. The other motorbike approached the Monk closer.
The Monk knew that, the moment he opened his car door, the motorbikers would strike. The Monk engaged in defensive stance. The motorbikers stared at him and then looked at his lap top bag. A fleeting moment passed and the Monk was relieved when the motorbikers went away. He quickly got into his car, locked his door and drove away.
He called to warn me to be careful if I were to go anywhere near the busy street in Selayang. He was very shocked that it happened during broad day light and a big guy like him could also be a victim of snatch thief.
On the same day, the secretary to MD was robbed at her condominium. She got back home at around 10 pm and was unloading things from her car with two children in tow and a maid. Out of a sudden, a stranger came out from the condo and started to tease her children. She was very scared and quickly brought the children back to her house. The maid came downstairs to collect things from the car and she was robbed by the same stranger. Fortunately, he took only the bag with milk powder inside.
Ed called me on the same weekend to inform us that, our friend who stays near my place was robbed when she came home one night. She opened her house gate when a Honda CAV9966 stopped behind her Kenari. Four men came out and one of them was armed with a wooden rod. She started screaming and the men came after her golden bracelet. It was a lucky thing that her neighbours heard her screams and came out to help. Upon seeing this, the bastards took her car keys and her handbag and sped off. It was fortunate that she was not harmed.
A maid who was sweeping the floor in the kindergarten opposite my house was almost raped. She screamed at the top of her lungs and the rapist ran away. The owner then took her to lodge a police report.
Just two weeks ago, when I was away, I heard a disturbing news of one 9 year old girl being raped and thrown off a condominium near my house. Her body was discovered by the security guard who highlighted the maintenance department chief. They called the police. Even though the police station is situated along the road of the said condominium, it took them 30 minutes to arrive after the distress call.
It shows the lacksidle attitude of our enforcement. The criminal might still be around the area if the police had acted swift enough.
A few years ago, when a friend was robbed in front of the now-defunct Embassy Club, she was told to lodge her report as “tercicir” (lost) instead of being robbed. She refused and wanted to lodge a snatch theft report. The police warned her that it might take longer than usual for her to reissue her driving license and IC if she didn’t compromise.
Since she would be going overseas soon and didn’t want this to hinder any process, she relented but with a very heavy heart. She was extremely angry. Not to mention, she was kicked from one police station to another just to make this report even though it happened on Jalan Ampang, they asked her to lodge the report in PJ and only to be sent back to Jalan Dang Wangi. Imagine the stress of losing all your belongings and being kicked like a ball from one place to another.
A few months ago, when my house was burglarized twice the same week, I lodged a police report. The police told me, it’s not uncommon. He even told us a house near ours were just burglared the other day. And yet, they didn’t do anything about it to curb the problem. So, should we just sit at home and wait for this unfortunate thing to happen? And surrender to fate because it’s happening all the time and deem acceptable??
We were already being victimized by the thefts and burglaries and yet, we had to go through the same process of victimization by the police. When the friend lodge report with the police and being asked on the race of the perpetrators, she was snided for being a racist. Even after 50 years of Independence, I was very disappointed that the minds of the people are still not liberated.
If I remember correctly, there was an article in the Star a month ago stating; on the contrary to most people’s beliefs, 80% of the crimes are done by “our own people” trying to imitate the way the foreign workers speak, particularly the Indonesians.
So, why are the police still pointing fingers at foreigners when the victims lodge police report identifying the race of the perpetrators?
It is not important whether which race did more crimes. The multi-racial community in Malaysia must realize that – irregardless of races, a crime had been committed and it had to be dealt with utmost urgency and justice. The crimes did not only affect one community – it affects all.
After the break-ins a few months ago, I haven’t been really sleeping well since. Sometimes, I would wake up late at night and run downstairs to check if all doors are secured.
The criminals are getting bolder and bolder by the day. The police must brush up their lack of sense of urgency to restore some degree of confidence (if any) to the public and make Malaysia a safe place to be.