The increasing crime rates in Malaysia have reached worrying levels in which it is almost everyday, victimization of women are reported in our dailies - not to mention of the unreported cases.
With the upcoming GE, the public is desperately hoping for effective efforts & actions from our government & police force to eliminate crime in our society, as a measure to bring down public's fears & win our votes. However, it just did not happen.
Women in our country continue to live with growing fears!
Let's Recall - Last year (2012) 's reported Violent crimes against Women
Here are just a few (out of thousands?) reported cases which have caught public's attention & being widely circulated in the cyberspace.
The Curve carpark - 25-year-old Chin Xin-Ci, a Malaysian internet marketer was abducted by two men on a Sunday evening.
She was loading her shopping bags onto the back seat of her car when she was threatened at knifepoint & being pushed down into the back of her car. The two abductors (suspected to be Malay & Indian origin) drove her car & one of them began making sexual advances despite her plea to let her go.
As the car slowed down to move out of the carpark, she managed to fight her way out of the car & narrowly escaping potential rape. Fortunate to have escaped, she has shared that her ordeal lasted about four minutes but it felt like a long nightmare.
Puchong - 51-year-old female teacher, Teoh Soo Kim was kidnapped, robbed and violently assaulted to the state of coma.
Teoh left for work about 7.30am to pick up her pupil & was abducted by two men on the way. Police also found out that Teoh’s ATM card was used to make two withdrawals. The CCTV footage of the bank in Bandar Kinrara, from where Teoh had withdrawn RM1,600, showed four men standing beside her.
Hours later, she was found brutally beaten with fractured skull lying unconscious at Talang oil palm estate in Kuala Selangor. Her valuables & Proton Saga were missing.
Teoh was warded at Sungai Buloh Hospital with severe head injuries & lapsed into a coma. After going through four operations including brain surgery & even when the doctors were pessimistic of her situation, Teoh managed to regain consciousness two months later.
She is still traumatized & only remembers that two men got into her car & the moment they kicked her out of her car, they slashed her head a few times with an axe. Teoh will cry everytime she recalls of the horrifying incident.
Kelana Jaya condo - 28-year-old Sharala Thevi Krishnan, resident of Kelana D’Putera Condominum got assaulted by two men who snatched her handbag & other valuables right in front of her condominium, while its security guard & other residents watched on, showing no signs of wanting to help.
Sharala saw two motorcyclists riding pass her suspiciously & thus, she began running into the compound of her Kelana D'Putera Condominium. However as she ran, the two pillion riders got hold of her in front of her condominium's guard house.
The security guard & other residents just stood & watched as she screamed for help. She lost her handbag with all valuables & two gold necklaces.
Watch the video & judge our society yourself,
http://video.malaysia.msn.com/watch/video/guards-watch-while-resident-gets-robbed-at-kelana-dputra-condo/1no93oezv?cpkey=873c2021-cd01-4cfe-910b-d430ed5bf281||||
Mid Valley Megamall carpark - 24-year-old Noorhusna Aisyah, a technical executive was slashed on the head, stabbed in the chest & kicked repeatedly on a Friday at 9.50pm.
Noorhusna was walking towards her parked car when she was being assaulted. The assailants grabbed her from behind, held a sharp weapon to her neck & pushed her to the ground. When she screamed, the assailants slashed her head & stabbed into her chest. Noorhusna put up a fight & was kicked repeatedly by the assailants while she was on the ground.
A witness said the victim was found leaning against a wall with blood gushing from her head. "The woman was too traumatized & her hands were shaking." Noorhusna was rushed to UM Medical Centre in ambulance. She lost her i-Phone, cash, bank cards & identity cards.
Tesco Ampang carpark - Noorlida M. Noor was brutally attacked by a Malay man in broad daylight at 2.50pm on a weekday.
Noorlida was removing a flyer from her windscreen when a man forcibly pushed her into her car & slashed her neck twice. The assailant then stabbed her neck causing her to bleed profusely. She fought back & tried shouting but the man pinned her down & warned her "not to be stupid". Noorlida continued to fight back & honked her car with her right knee when the assailant was trying to shut the car door. In 2-3 minutes time, the sound of honking attracted a curious lady accompanied by her mid-20s son & the assailant quickly fled the scene.
Noorlida then drove to lodge a police report & rushed to Gleneagles Hospital for immediate medical treatment. She was admitted to ICU for close observation.
What about this year, 2013?
We have not even completed the first quarter of year 2013 yet & news of all kind of horrifying assaults against women have been heard almost daily.
In the second week of March alone, we have came across at least three horrifying news that sparked our fears.
March 11 - A 24-year-old American woman who hailed a taxi near Mutiara Damansara shopping mall was abducted, robbed & gang raped by the taxi driver & his accomplice. Her ordeal began when the taxi driver picked up his accomplice. They robbed off her belongings & took her for an 80km terror ride to a house in Sungai Pelek, Sepang. The Star news reported that the two abductors took turns to rape her there while other sources revealed that she was raped by 15 men. She managed to free herself the next day & sought help from passers-by.
March 13 - A 40-year-old mother was robbed off cash & brutally raped in a shopping mall's toilet by a foreigner at knife-point, while her 18-year-old son waited outside for her. On hearing his mother's screams & seeing a man bolting out of the toilet, her son chased the foreigner & overpowered him with shoppers' help.
March 13 - Two Austrian tourists, 50 & 51-year-old, were attacked by a group of assailants at a park in Rawang. The assailants robbed off their belongings & slashed them as they tried fighting back with Taekwando. The victims were however overpowered by the assailants. (Reported in Chinese dailies only)
How to protect our loved ones - the vulnerable women?
Some said, crime prevention is a good attempt to reduce victimization & to deter crime. Yes or No? Well, we need to be reminded that assailants often target at women because women are generally the more passive & weaker group. The question is then, how do we change this sexist perception?
Some of the highly recommended ways to prevent crime against women include,
i) Park your car in public places with good lighting
- Most of the reputable shopping malls in Malaysia have provided VIP parking space for single woman driver which is located directly in front of the mall's entrance. This is in fact, a very good preventive measure. Credit to all of them!
ii) Do not walk alone
- In most shopping malls, security guards will accompany single woman driver to their parked car upon request. Please do make use of this service.
- If you have to walk alone under certain circumstances, always stay alert & be aware of your surrounding. Do not give off a timid impression as this would give green light to the predator!
Our Nation Today
The fact is that in Malaysia today, the criminals are getting bolder in our seemingly lawless country. I seriously lost count of how many video clips (youtubes) I have watched with CCTV footages of women being attacked in broad daylight, mostly in housing areas.
Who do we blame other than the criminals themselves? Do we blame the victims for being appealing to the criminals? Do we blame our religion for the unfortunate incident? Do we blame the authorities for lacking of enforcement & strategies? Do we blame the media for such horrifying coverages? Do we blame our neighbors for not coming to our aid? Or do we blame ourselves for not running to help the victims in fighting back the assailants?
I do question. How many of us do not mind chasing snatch thieves for a victim unrelated to us? How many of us would help to fight the assailants if they are armed with weapons? How many of us would go & check our neighbor's house immediately if their alarm goes off? How many of us would get out of our car to stop motorcyclist who just smashed the window of another stationary car? And how many of us would care to stop & help after a road accident?
Of course, I have seen a few kind & helpful Malaysians, but they are definitely from the minority group. It is sad & unfortunate that, our social problems have indirectly contributed to the rise of bold criminals & most of these bold criminals are still roaming freely looking for targets. Who can we count on to track down these criminals & eliminate them? Why does the public have to live with growing fears while the criminals are living boldly in our country as if it is lawless? Why do we hear violent crimes so common these days & most of the assailants remain uncaught?
While some would choose to pray for safety, some others would opt not to carry handbags & some others would seriously consider migrating, what we must be united to do is to VOTE for an EFFICIENT LAW ENFORCER & bring an end to public's fear. The choice for a change lies in your hand.
~ STOP BLAMING. VOTE with WISDOM ~
