Crimes in Malaysia

Crimes in Malaysia
The hottest topic in the country today as we draw to a close in 2012 is the high crime rate in the country.  A friend who came home for a few weeks' holiday laid a bet with his family. If, during his stay, a day passed by without any crime reports in newspapers, he would buy his family a lunch, as a bet of course. He won the bet. The public perception is that most people in the country feel unsafe. Though this was disputed by the police, the fact remains that we have a crime committed everyday. Crimes committed range from murder, robbery, snatch thefts, break-ins, cheating, illegal gaming and prostitution, bribery, etc. The most common crimes committed are snatch thefts and robbery. The most recent crime was committed on 17-12-2012, at 4.40 a.m. when 2 robbers robbed a 24-hr convenience store, KK Mart in Taman Sri Rampai,Setapak, Kuala Lumpur. But as luck was not with them, they were shot by police as they were leaving the store. One of them died on the spot, while the other escaped. As reported by The Star, the dead man was a son of a policeman.

(From The Star)



On the next day, 18-12-2012, The Star reported another parang-wielding robber was shot dead. 2 robbers were robbing a cyber cafe in Taman Len Seng, Cheras, when a police officer who was in the area heard the scream of the terrified cashier, shot one of them when he charged at the police officer with a parang. The other robber escaped in a motorcycle.

(The Star - 19 Dec. 2012)



There are more crime reports today (20-12-2012) in The Star. It was revealed by the General Manager of KK Mart, Mr Hooi Weng Kheong, there were 56 robberies in the store's 82 outlets last year. After the chain expanded its outlets to 127, there had been 217 robberies for the whole of this year todate. Attached is the report from The Star:

( From The Star - 20 Dec. 2012 )



Also reported today, is the burglary of a royal household in Section 16, Petaling Jaya. The family returned home to find their home broken into after having a birthday celebration dinner in a hotel. RM2 million worth of belongings were stolen, together with a pistol and 62 bullets. The Star report is attached:

( From The Star - 20 Dec. 2012 )

Yet another crime commonly commited in the country involving extortion using threats of exposure of photographs taken during sexual activities, was reported today. A 30 year old teacher was threatened with this exposure unless she pays Rm50,000 to her former boyfriend. According to her she did not know that he was married until sometime after they met each other. He did not keep his promise to divorce his wife and marry her. He threatened her with the exposure after she left him. She had gone to Mr Michael Chong for help.

Another reported crime today involved a 49 year old property agent who impersonated a well known telemovie director to trap women. A 22 year old woman reported to police that she applied for a part in a movie, as advertised by the imposter. She was called for interview and given a script to act out, which included a scene whereby she had to lie in bed and have intimacy with the actor. He took her to a hotel and molested her. The Star report is attached:

( From The Star - 20 Dec. 2012 )



Today, 21 December 2012, is widely regarded as the day when the world would come to an end, as 'predicted' by the Mayans. This end-of-the-world date was made popular by a film about the apocalyse, as well as some books connected with archeological artifacts, e.g. 'Fingerprints of the gods'. But I woke up to a fresh morning into a new era. I scanned the newspapers and found crimes committed even on this famous date.

In one case, a 33 year old woman, S. Sumtarambhal was found dead in a car with her throat slit at 12.30 a.m. at Jalan PJS 5/16 Desa Mentari. She and her husband are operating a few day care centers for the elderly.

                                      Report by The Star - 21 Dec. 2012

On this same day, a report said that a snatch thief, Mohd Suhaidee Hussain, was sentenced to 10 years' jail and 5 strokes of the rotan for snatching a gold chain from a 2 -year old girl in a shopping mall in Kubang Krian in October this year. He was caught by the girl's father. I feel very happy that the judge has imposed a deterrent sentence on the snatch thief, as this crime has become a disease that permeates the whole country, often causing death to the victims. These scumbugs are getting more and more daring, as previously, light sentences of a few hundred ringgit fines were imposed. One person living in Subang Jaya even drove a big car, telling his wife he was going to work, but started his snatching activities once he reached his targetted place. He was eventually caught.

( Report by The Star - 18 Dec 2012 )

On the same day, the following report is about corruption of 2 police officers, Lance Corporals Mohd Azhar Ibrahim, 35, and Rizal Mohd Anuar, 38. They were charged for accepting bribes of RM5,000 three times and RM10,000 once between  2010 and 2011, from one Azizul Kassim, so that no action would be taken againt him for possessing duty- unpaid cigarettes in Jerteh, Besut.

If found guilty, it is hoped a heavy sentence would be imposed, as corruption in generally is perceived to be too rampant, a figure of 54 in world ranking is nothing to be proud of, especially for an enforcement officer who is supposed to be of top integrity to protect the people and country. 

                                   ( Report by The Star )

Free Nasi Kandar at Kayu in SS2

The owner of Nasi Kandar restaurant made a pledge that he would give a free meal to all patrons if Lee Chong Wei won the gold medal for Malaysia before the final match between Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia and Lin Dan of China at the Olympic Games in London. However, Lee Chong Wei lost the match to Lin Dan in an exciting match which stretched to 3 games. Lee gave Lin Dan a very good fight. Almost all Malaysians were very satisfied with the performance put up by Lee. For his good sportsmanship and fighting spirits, the restaurant owner decided to give away free meals to his patrons  between 7.00 pm and 10.00 pm the following day, nonetheless.
The queue started building up well before 7.00 pm. By the time I reached the place at 6.45 pm the queue was 2 blocks long. I decided not to waste time queuing for the meal. Instead my wife and I adjoined to Section 17 for a Robert fried Kueh Tiaw.

The picture captures the spirit of the fans of Lee Chong Wei, who queued up patiently for their meals.

Malaysian landscape in 2012

The political landscape in Malaysia in year 2012 is nothing but chaos. It is a wonder that government machineries are still functioning, albeit at a reduced efficiency. There is too much politiking, with the ruling party Barisan National, going all out to win the coming General Elections which must be held before April 2013. The Prime Minister had himself declared that the ruling party must win the elections at all costs, while the opposition coalition goes all out to expose the wrong doings of the government.
The most successful expose of wrong doing involved the husband of former Social Welfare Minister, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, who was entrusted to produce beef in a multi-million Ringgit project (The National Feedlot Project), RM250 million to be exact, but who ended up owning properties in Malaysia and Singapore to the tune of millions of ringgit, using company money loaned by the government specifically for the stated purpose of producing sufficient beef for the country. The court case is still on-going. Meanwhile, a high ranking officer from the company with a Datuk title had been charged in court for cheating the Managing Director of the company related to this so called NFC scandal. Just a few days ago, the person who exposed this scandal, also called ' Cow-gate ', a member of the oppostion party PKR, Mohd Rafizi Ramli, had been charged with possession and leakage of banking documents related to the company in its dealing with the bank, thus contravening the Banking and Financial Institutions Act (BAFIA) . The Prime Minister had since said that Rafizi should have handed the documents to the MACC, the Malaysia anti corruption agency. Rafizi had since exposed another so called scandal involving the award of the Ampang LRT extension project to George Kent, a producer of water supply meters. He claimed that the major shareholder of the listed company is a golfing partner of the Prime Minister, and that George Kent was disqualified in earlier rounds of evaluations because it had only undertaken projects with value less than RM50 million and had no experience in LRT project works. This is a billion Ringgit project. Member of Parliament, Tony Pua, came out to criticize when George Kent announced that it would subcontract 70% to 80% of its work, even to rival companies who lost in the tender bids.
Other issues played up include the water supply for Selangor. The company contracted to provided treated water to Selangor and Putrajaya, Syabas, claimed there is not enough water to distribute and that it proposed to draw up a water rationing schedule for the state. This set off an alarm and the Selangor Government wasted no time in checking the water levels at the 7 dams owned by the state. It was confirmed that the dams were full. Why then ration? But Syabas countered that there is a shortage of treated water. This sets people thinking perhaps the solution to this problem is to build more treatment plants and upgrade the existing ones. The solution looks quite simple indeed. The rattled Selangor government condemned the action of Syabas, which tantamounts to subbotage. It immediately presented a proposal to the Federal government, as under the terms of the contract the Selangor government is obliged to do, to take over Syabas. Of course, the Federal government would not allow that. It formed a panel headed by the Deputy Prime Minister, to study the whole issue and arrived at the conclusion that rationing was not allowed. But the Federal government would expedite the project to channel water from Pahang to Selangor. To do this, a tunnel is required (in fact the building of the tunnel is already half complete) and a treatment plant in Selangor is also needed. The whole project cost is estimated to be RM8.65 billion. Herein lies the problem. To build the treatment plant in Selangor requires the consent from the state government.
Now the question arises as to priority. On the one hand, Syabas claims that there is a shortage of treated water NOW. So, funds must be alloted to upgrade and build treatment plants now. The Langat2 project, as it is called, can be ready only in 2014 or 2015. Moreover, the people of Selangor have started asking why is there a need to channel water from Pahang at exorbitant cost, when there are 7 dams full of water. Even in the worst case scenario of prolonged draught, wouldn't the draught affect Pahang too? Can't water be sourced from rivers in Selangor? Some experts in water supply have since identified a few possible souces in the state where water can be drawn. This is a clear case of unhealthy politicking. Not forgetting that eventually, the people of Selangor will have to pay for this high cost. There is no such thing as free lunch.