Natalie Shobana Ambrose May 30, 08 11:57am (Malaysiakini)
I witnessed a car-jacking, few days ago. At a T-junction a kilometre from my home. And the victim was slashed.
On a busy road, he was left to bleed by his tormentors. A casual drive turned into a nightmare relived in perpetuity. He lost his car, wallet, phone, house keys and the life he knew. In an interlude he was left with an amplified prejudice of people.
It looked like a scene out of a movie. As the suspects sped off with the victim’s car- so did the witnesses. The insane reality that no one came to his rescue hit me real hard. It pointed to what the ‘real Malaysia’ is like. Or, has become.
Contrary to what we tell ourselves about the beautiful, friendly Malaysia we live in, the reality is that when people cry for help, we turn and walk the other way. We are a culture of people who stare and do nothing. The ‘jangan jaga tepi kain orang lain’ concept is dominant. Mind your own business and pretend not to see other people’s troubles.
However, you are allowed to note the registration number of the vehicle- to go and buy the three or four digit lottery tickets afterwards?
Some call it ‘Bystander Apathy’, I call it the ‘Ugly Malaysian Syndrome’. It’s the thinking that says, it’s okay - because someone else will help the victim.
But what if someone doesn’t? One day the victim might be you…and what then?
Prosperity means that your citizens feel safe in the country. Otherwise we as a nation are just a white-washed sepulchre.
The right to personal safety and security are fundamental human needs. They are the basis of Maslow’s Theory of Needs. I have always assumed my safety. Safe because all these horrible things we read in the newspapers happen elsewhere. Now they happened a km from home-the place I’ve lived all my life!
A couple of months ago, my aunty and her grandson were accosted while they were on their daily evening walk. Instinct made her run into another residence when seeing two men on a motorcycle speeding at her. Wielding a parang they feared not and rode into the compound and forced a gold chain off her.
‘Tidak apa’ attitude
An hour later she spots them drinking in the same coffee shop she goes to. Today she cynically jokes about having funded their whiskey habits for a day. What to do? Report it to the authorities? Or would you just buy a treadmill and walk in the air-conditioned comfort of your living-room?
When I related the incident to the police, they had the ‘tidak apa’ attitude. Every Malaysian (local and foreign) I’ve talked to had the same view, ‘So typical- lah. It’s the Malaysian police’.
I’ve heard horror stories of how the police are so lackadaisical in this most basic of their duties that, when a snatch theft is reported, the victim only does so for insurance purposes. Notions of police assistance are quickly dismissed.
How can officers tell me with wanton disregard, ‘These things happen- lah you know’. So much for ‘Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah’ and now ‘Firm, Fair and Courteous’.
Of course it’s very easy for me to point fingers in condemnation. After all the paralysis one feels upon seeing a long shiny sharp weapon and the power it bears is real.
But what can we do to make our country safe?
When I was younger, I walked down the very road where the car-jacking victim’s blood was shed. I never had to think if I was safe because I felt safe.
Last week, talking to the inspector in-charge made me feel like packing up and moving. He didn’t seem bothered. It’s been nearly a week now and he hasn’t even visited the scene of the crime.
In many countries, when a person dons a police uniform, it is not a job under oath. It is a lifestyle of integrity, honour, respect and selflessness. A tall order but a proud one.
More often than not I see police cars breaking traffic rules and police officers breaking the very rules they are bound to enforce - and abusing the power that is vested in them.
How are we to respect our police force when they themselves are not good examples? How can we trust our police force when they are the very people who abuse their power? How can we feel safe when the police, themselves, bully citizens?
I’m trying to make sense of this all. I don’t want to be crippled by fear and maybe I need to put the blame on someone.
Real priorities
Fighting crime should be our main priority. Is it too much to ask that the police actually do something to reduce crime? They are no more isolated incidences. They have become rampant.
Let’s stop with writing detailed reports on causal factors and reasons as to why crime is rampant. Instead, let us do something about it. Give the cops the training, tools and the funds they need - and then, make sure they do what they are supposed to be doing.
The media has been blamed many times for over sensationalising crime in Malaysia but really, think of the number of first-hand stories of snatch thefts, home robberies and other crimes that go unreported.
It has been a few days since the victim’s bloodstains have been removed from my car seats and I’ve kept my driving to an absolute minimum. Maybe I shouldn’t voice out my discontent to the very people who are paid to keep me safe. But what I do know though is that I need to be safe and feel safe where I live.
A few days ago a man was brutally savaged near my home.
NATALIE SHOBANA AMBROSE is a writer, dancer, sociologist, care-giver, pianist, memories curator and concerned Malaysian in the midst of finishing her thesis in Strategy and Defence Studies at the Universiti Malaya.
