Despairing times for crime

Everyday I open up the papers and the news that greet me is often grim. Front page articles are plastered with the latest news of murder, rape, robbery, accidents, incest, arson, shootings, gang fights and kidnapping. The recent two murders have left me shaken and an all time confidence loss in the ability of our police personnels in curbing crime within Malaysia. It sends a feeling of dread that our daily life is no longer safe and that our every other day might see us being confronted with violence we only read about in the past. It’s true that the days when we could freely walk the streets of KL at night without worries are over. Is this an inevitable price we pay for modernity and development? Is this a normal symptomatic occurrence we see when a city begins to grow?

I wouldn’t believe it myself and could only laugh out when my aunt kept on asking me to lock my doors while driving in KL for the fear that someone would come at knife point and relieve me of my vehicle. The endless advice not to park at the LRT car parks for fear of car jacking and stern warnings not to wander off alone into unfamiliar streets. To this point I still drive with my car locks freely unlatched as I drive but at times a ninggling feeling makes me unconciously push down the locks. I would still be laughing out loud if it wasn’t for an incident involving my relations. Our life is mostly routine, we often carry out the same tasks and chore every morning as we go to work, we drive out at roughly the same time, take the familiar routes and later on returning home repeat this ritual in reverse. Even if we never realise it, it seems there are people out there that do, those looking for a pattern, organizing an opportunity and later execute their plan to rob or worse, kidnap you for ransom. The thought that there are villains out there so highly organized, so meticulous and well planned sends chills through my spine. They are no longer the uneducated louts that blindly and randomly commit petty crimes, these new breeds are smart, they bide their time and observe, charting for a moment that will be advantageous for them to strike, they lure you into a false sense of relief and let you think that your life is still running normally.

That was what happened to my cousin and aunt one evening. They were travelling as usual back from their goldsmith shop at Brickfields and reaching the intersection near SRJK Damansara in Bandar Utama late in the night. Suddenly there was a car that flashed a siren and asked them to pull over. The men were dressed in police fatigues and even bore what can be said as genuine police badges so my cousin complied. Before they knew it, these bogus cops whipped out parangs (machete) and guns and inserted themselves into the car. Their demand, that my relations take them back to the store and hand over the jewellery stored within as well as maybe even ransoming my relations. While two of them rode along to ensure compliance, another drove their getaway car and followed closely. Thank God as they were trying to open the front door the alarm went off and they panicked and fled leaving my aunt and cousin free. The police were called in after they got home and a report was lodged. It was lucky that no harm was done to my relations and it was a close call as the villains had them totally at their mercy. This didn't stop another robbery attempt that dud a tunnel through the garbage chute into the shop and tried unsuccessfully to blow torch the safe open (which later forced my uncle to safecrack himself as the lock was jammed with a fortune of gold and receipts within).

The warnings now seem more real to the point that sometimes I preserve danger where there is none to fear. Letting fear control us cannot be allowed, else we’ll be paralysed by phantom fears at every corner nor can we let our guard down anymore else we become complacent that the things we hear happening around us would never ever occur to us. Do we feel safe anymore, even in our house? My house in Kuantan including several other houses in the same area were meticulously ransacked while the occupants were away on holiday. It gives a sense of dread that you know your sanctuary and privacy has been invaded, strangers sifting through your belongings and the thought of what if you were there sleeping soundly and them being in the same room? Even here in Sabah, student’s houses were systematically broken in and even some forced entry whereby the occupants were held with parangs and relieved of valuables. I don’t know what the law enforcers are doing about it. I don’t know what the Government is going to do about it. At times I don’t even know what I’d do about it. Are we living in dangerous times and will we ever feel secure again? If anyone ever asks is Malaysia safe? I can only answer no longer.