A victim of crime

Barely 30 minutes after submitting my column to my editor last week, I was involved in a snatch-theft attempt in the affluent neighbourhood of Bangsar. While I have written about this topic before, experiencing the crime myself allowed me to have another perspective to crimes being committed in the city I currently live in.

Let me just reiterate: it is not safe being a woman in Malaysia.

Ironically enough, a friend commented on the incident, saying that I have finally been re-initiated as a Malaysian, having been a victim of crime. Are our crime statistics that bad?

While the police has succeeded in reducing the crime rate from 147,062 cases in 2013 to 128,544 in 2014 – a drop of 18,518 cases as reported in the media as recent as March this year, the researcher in me is intrigued on how many cases were actually not reported.

Statistics, after all, depend on data being entered and survey conducted. The same article reported that the rate of violent crimes had dropped by 13.4% (3,950 cases) quoting Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar himself.

The only accessible figures I could lay my hands on showed a total of 33,197 cases of robberies and snatch theft in 2013, quoting official police statistics.

A total of 23,347 cases happened in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor alone. The report noted a 23.4% increase of (reported) snatch theft from the previous year, with the target mainly women walking alone.

I am now a part of these statistics for 2015.

From the experience, I can only deduce that crime can happen to anyone. Yes, I was walking alone. But I was parked on Jalan Ara, a main road with heavy traffic at the time, and well lit. I was wearing a backpack with both straps firmly on my shoulders.

Everything happened in a split second. My backpack was grabbed from behind, and as the thief tried to pull it off me, I fell to the ground and was dragged for about 5-10 metres.

As my brain registered what was happening, I could only shout and fought to keep the bag on me. It was over as quickly as it started, with me shaken, bruised, thankfully having not lost anything but my worry about the safety of my city.

Many Malaysians stopped to help. I am somehow proud of this fact as I have always believed in the good and humanity of people.

In a time especially where many powers sought to divide us, strangers helped me in my time of distress. After ensuring that I was okay, these strangers offered advice and support.

I can't help but lament at their advice, repeated by my concerned friends when I informed them of the incident. Many of them shared accounts of being mugged or robbed either from their own experience or that of a member of family or friend.

I notice that we are always concerned about the victim, but never the perpetrator(s) of crime.  

The victim, including yours truly, was advised to take martial arts classes to fend off future incidents. I do actually have a basic in Aikido, which I am grateful for the reflexes I had that fateful night.

Many advise me to not walk alone, not to park where I normally park, and to be aware of my surroundings when I walk.

To be honest, I am upset that as a victim, I bear the responsibility to do all of these things.

Why can't the perpetrators stop robbing and mugging people?

What makes them prone to crime?

A few friends commented that such incidents must be the work of drug users.

Ironically, I work with HIV patients, some of whom are drug users. The stigma surrounding these human beings is still alarmingly high. If we keep denying employment and putting most drug users into prisons for using drugs, we are not solving the problem.

Further, why would anyone resort to robbing and thievery?

Unemployment and the need to survive in the big city would push desperate human beings to crime.

Hence, we must move towards decriminalising and providing access to education and skills training in order to ensure many more citizens are able to do honest jobs.

This is not about drug use, being immoral, or not receiving enough religious education. I personally and humbly think that such crimes are carried out of desperation and perhaps frustration following a life of being denied privileges and opportunities.

Despite not being able to identify the perpetrators that night, I made a police report anyway. I do want to see increase police presence on the streets of Kuala Lumpur to ensure the safety of Malaysian citizens from such incidents.

However, I refuse to be cowed and afraid as a victim.

We need more compassion and empathy to solve the bigger social issue, and this incident only strengthened my resolve towards seeing a better, safer Malaysia. – August 5, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.