CRIME!!!

Crime! Break-ins, snatching, extortions, criminal breaches of trust, smuggling, rapes ... Sometimes in a man's life, he is forced to face the demons that plague his and his society's well-being. The demons are the the law-breakers such as burglars, robbers and petty thieves and they, regardless of their backgrounds, are a scourge to civil society.

The criminals are getting way out of control. Everywhere in the the world and and in this part of it, crime is rampant.

My office was broken into three times within 8 years. I had triple locks, fortified doors and extra gates. I even had an anti-burglar system installed by a reputable security firm. It didn't keep these crooks out. My estimated financial loss in terms of assets has been well over RM 2,000.

We should be doing something about the crimes that are perpetuated against us.

I did.

Just a day ago, I agreed to be in our local neighborhood defense committee after I was approached by two individuals: an Eurasian and a well-respected ex-teacher of mine who lives near my home.

It certainly wasn't the first time I was offered the responsibility but it was all small scale politics that resulted in the prevention of my participation earlier.

You see, this classy housing area once had a very active neighborhood force after an Eurasian formed it: things were happening. Extra-curricular activities were well-organized. There were parties, jogging contests and aerobic exercises. We came together and acted as one body.

Then a minority group of self-interest ( for better of a harsher word) individuals by clandestine means seized the agenda and so for over 8 years the force went dead. No legitimate elections were ever called despite numerous attempts by others and I to encourage the present leader to call for one. On each occasion, he would casually promise he would call for one "later".

So back to my story: the Eurasian was the very man who was the first leader who got the ball rolling in the early days and it was he who was soon approaching me as he was as alarmed and concerned as I was with the prevailing high crime situation. There have been numerous burglaries in the area.

I told them of the four incidents in my street alone and my personal vigilante action.

Five incidents here!

A few years ago, I saw a burglar climbing out of a empty neighbor's house in the distant in a noisy night of barking dogs. He got away.

Then in another memorable incident, my neighbor alerted me to a break in near our homes and though unarmed we chased the burglar across a huge field. Eventually, he got away, jumping into a dark huge drain and getting into a vehicle driven by an accomplice. The good news was that he dropped the jewelries at the crime scene much to the relief of the grateful owners.

Not too long after that, in another incident, I saw a crowd of neighbors one day while coming home from late work and without hesitation grabbed a long rattan rod to join them. We chased the burglar but he got away by hiding in some bushes. He left behind a bicycle in his haste to escape from us.

Following these three known incidents, the next two ones involved my next door neighbors. My left next door old lady who died recently was beaten up by a man who had broken into their house one rainy day. I was in my office that night when I heard about it. and couldn't do anything.

A distant relative of mine had her home on my right broken into next door as well. The old lady, who died not long after the encounter lost some valuables.

Amazingly, today I ran into an buddy and his colleague whom I eventually recognised as the brother of a fellow ex-scouting Jamboree participant in the old days. My buddy narrated the shocking news about the multiple tragedies in his native in-laws' lives.

According to him, they had their 4-wheel drive stolen when they were about to take their recently deceased close relative home from the hospital. Furthermore, their Permyjaya house was completely stripped of everything, including the lady's valuable generations handed down beads when they arrived back in the evening. To add moew to their pain and distress, the husband had just resigned from a high paying risky job in another division to be with the family.

It was indeed sad to also hear that apart from the psychological trauma that the family experienced (the wife was in a state of such shock that she has been speechless) I was told the cops stationed at Permyjaya got them to file their break-in report at Lutong which is a considerable distance away from Permyjaya.

After awaiting over 2 hours, the C.I.D investigators eventually spoke to them and by the time the traumatised couple reached home, it was past 2:00 a.m. in the morning the next day.

It was indeed also sad to hear that a fellow lady blogger, who goes by the moniker, Ladybird had her home burglarized as well.

I'll pray hard for you, Ladybird.

I could only pray that we good citizens will do something about the crimes that are perpetuated against us. Let us all join the Rukun Tetangga (Neigborhood Watch Organization) and other social service organizations to relieve and help the poor. In this way, we will be proactive and legally win the war against these evil criminals! And Yeah, let's not be wise monkeys in this matter or stick our heads into the sand, expecting everything will work out fine....