Crime in Malaysia

Crimes have been making headlines in Malaysia. Before it was snatch thieves and loan sharks.
Now it is robberies, frauds, rapes, murders, and kidnappings.

Admit it or not, Malaysia crime rates have been climbing year after 
year for some time already. 

If you have paid attention, we are no longer living in our homes. We are living in our little iron grilled prisons. We no longer feel safe even in our own house, so, we have taken measures to safeguard our home by installing grills on our doors and windows; in doing so, introducing another form of hazards without knowing it: blocking off fire escape route.

Another phenomenon is the popularity of gated communities. People are now preferred to live in a gated communities despite the extra cost incurred. It's no longer viewed as a luxury but a necessities even for common folks like you and me. Essentially, crimes in Malaysia have changed the life of Malaysians.

Now in Ipoh, the situation is getting worse.

Recently, I have had both colleagues and friends, whose house have
been broken apart by thugs and thieves. Yes, you heard me right.
The criminals don't just break into your house anymore. Now, 
they break apart your house too. Ok, I've exaggerated, they were 
breaking apart the gates for the stainless steel bars. Yes, they 
would dismantle your front gate if it were made of stainless steel.
So, house owners in Ipoh, don't just safeguard your house, you need
to safeguard the gates that safeguard your house too!

The question is why. Why is crime rate in Malaysia so high? First,
lets look at the type of crimes that is happening day in and out 
in Malaysia. If you have examined it closely, they were mainly 
crimes of opportunity. (I learnt this from my friend.)
As the term goes, crimes of opportunity is not planned, 
if there were a presence of a uniform law enforcement officer, 
the opportunistic criminals would not have committed the crimes. 
So, what does that should have told us?
Simple, that our police force is understaffed.
There are simply not enough uniformed police men and women
walking beats on the street and residential areas.