(This is not a movie review.)

If you’ve been reading news reported on Facebook (when people get their news from Facebook, there’s a serious problem with the mainstream news), you would have read many stories about the crime incidents that has been taking place around your neighborhood. In fact, some of them even involved people you actually know. Just 2 months ago, my mum was robbed at gun point, and thankfully the robbers only took off with the car.

Then you hear about ‘community-messages’ on the radio advising you not to put your handbags on the passenger seat and all kinds of crime-preventing tactics, which I think is an insult to the law enforcement agency of this country- namely the PDRM. If we have to resort to all these tactics to protect ourselves, it makes you wonder just how safe this country has become. In other civilized societies, people don’t even have to lock their doors and they can rest assure that they will come back to their homes without anything missing. Yet, in Malaysia, we cannot even leave our mobile phones safely on restaurant tables or stroll on the street with our handbags without being the next target of snatch thieves.

There are just too many things we can blame when crime flourishes, but here are a few things that I feel that makes Malaysia a crime haven:

1) Like fund managers, criminals weight the risk between potential loot and the chances of getting caught. On average, snatching a bag from an unsuspecting lady on the sidewalk can potentially bring in more than a thousand ringgit worth of valuables; an iPhone, a few hundred ringgit cash and probably even an iPad.

The risk of getting caught is almost nil. So, criminals commit crime with confidence when they know they can get away with it easily. How can they get away so easily? That brings us to the next observation.

2) Who was supposed to uphold peace and justice for the average public? It seems the Police are also busy trying to put food on table, and catching snatch thieves does not seem to bring in any ‘reveneues’.

Bribe income from petty traffic offender continues to be the most profitable activities for them. If we actually include unreported bribes into the crime statistics, I think the numbers would shoot up the roof.

The police force are too busy to care about crimes.

3) The state of our economy also contributes to the rising crime rate. The gap between the haves and have-nots continue to widens due to uneven development and unemployment.

Rising cost of basic necessities also makes people desperate enough to commit crime just to survive.

Fresh graduates are facing lots of pressure right after they graduate- finding a job that actually pays them enough while struggling to pay off their PTPTN loan with whatever leftovers they have. Before they even get their first paycheque, their balance sheets are already showing a negative RM30,000 worth study loans. It still baffles me why parents are paying more than RM50,000 in their childrens’ tertiary education that cannot even promise a job.

Unfortunately, none of the issues I brought up here above could be easily remedied. In the case of a financial crisis, the policies setup by government (e.g. Securities Commission, Central Bank etc) would be responsible for the wrongdoings of financial institutions. In our context here, the ‘regulatory’ body for crime prevention has failed us. We no longer feel protected and safe while walking on the streets. Every housing areas and condominiums has to have their own security force, and yet, this does not prevent daily break-ins and car thefts within their premises.

Politicians are too busy ensuring their victory in the next election that they have no time at all to address the issues faced by the man on the street.

Another victim is being robbed, mugged or raped even as you read this.

We seriously need Batman now.