Lessons in Kuala Lumpur
Petty crimes are seriously tackled in Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia’s path to prosperity over the last decade was also accompanied by a rise in street crimes. According to local newspapers, crime rate in the country increased from less than 70,000 in the early nineties to some 225,000 in year 2007. In the last five years, the trend even accelerated.
Until recently, one would just had to open a Malaysian newspaper to know that something was going wrong in Kuala Lumpur. Almost every day, they were stories related to crime events in Malaysia’s largest city with girls being victims of bag snatching, shop robberies, tugs harassing or taking the money of customers. Particularly affected by rampant petty crimes were some of KL major tourist areas such as Bukit Bintang or Jalan Pudu where KL main bus station is located.
The reputation of KL is largely suffering from these repeated unfortunate events affecting above all locals but also visitors.
The feeling of being unsafe was becoming such an acute problem that Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak promised in its government’s speech to tackle street crimes seriously and reduce by 20 percent the number of cases by the end of next year.
A special unit of 800 policemen is now patrolling 24 hours a day in the streets of Kuala Lumpur, especially in 11 areas considered as major scenes for criminality. The 11 major crime areas include Bukit Bintang, Pudu, Brickfields –the Indian area around KL Central Station, among others.
The Ministry of Interior has also announced to prosecute criminals through the formation of special courts for street crime cases.
Tests of the new police force unit in the district of Bandar Sri Permaisuri already translated into a sharp reduction in street crime.
Hopefully, a similar result will be achieved citywide. So far, KL’s crime rate declined by 19 percent from January to May 2009, due to more arrests and severe penalties.
Then, the government will have to tackle KL’s bigger dangers for tourists: the infamous taxi drivers. KL taxis are probably the worst and often the most aggressive in Southeast Asia with visitors most likely to become victims of their cheating. But so far, no government has been able to seriously resolve the issue until today. Another task for the new prime minister?
Comments
Yesterday i went to KLCC and we were clicking some pics and a group or 3-4 Filipinos came to me and one of them dropped a bottle of water close to me feet and then came to pick it and grabbed my left foot and i was wondering whts going on!! and his other teammates surrounded me started saying something and pushing me,all this happened for 10-15 seconds and thn suddenly they all of them dispersed in different directions and its when i realized that my pocket has been picked and they took abt 4300 Malaysian ringettes. Then i recognized one of the thugs running and i followed him and nabbed him and whn i was confronting him one of his partner came and attacked me with pepper spray....and escaped, by that time KLCC security came and they caught one of the thug and handed him to Police....thn after sometime police came and took me to police station and they started with with police investigation by asking questions like: 1. how many of them?
2. how they looked like?3. wht is there ages bla bla....and then can u recognize then? i said all i knew and i also told them u already got one of them, why dont u interrogate him?? And more over all this incident is recorded in KLCC CCTV security footage in which u can see each and everyone who was involved in this crime....but it seems they were not much interested in all tht!! And moreover the KLCC security guards who caught tht thug also came and identified HIM but that police officer had nothing to say!! so ultimately the filed my complaint and said these ppl who do all this crime r not Malaysians plz dont feel bad abt this place and thts all they had to say........
Now:-
1. All this happened in the heat of the city in front of the petronas towers..!!
2. We got one suspect and handed him over to police and still they cld not recover anything from him..neither money nor information abt others involved!!
3. All tht incident is recorded in CCTV footage and even then police is showing their inability to do anything..!!
4. While i was at police station two more families came there to lodge their reports who have been robbed/thuged in and around KL..!!
With all this happening to me i will never recommend any one to visit Malaysia....
jalan Pudu is the worst. it is as tho it's designed for crime. not to mention that the place is hot and cramp.
PLEASE LET YOUR GOVERNMENT TAKE ACTION AND STOP CON MEN THROUGH INTERNET.THEY CLAIM THEY ARE A COURRIER SERVICE AND WHEN ONE IS SENT GOODS THEY HOLD THE PACKAGE AND ASK FOR MONEY I HAVE ALREADY SENT THEM SOME AND WERE ASKING FOR MORE SO I ROSE IN SUSPICION.RECEIVER'S NAME IS BAHARINA BINTI CHE NGAH,ADDRESS BSN 117,JALAN AMPANG 50450 KUALA LUMPUR. THE SECOND TIME THEY GAVE A RECIEVER'S NAME AS ABDUL RAHMAN.i WILL APPRECIATE YOUR ACTION TO STOP THE SPREAD OF A BAD NAME OF YOUR COUNTRY
Bukit Bintan is dangerous !! My wifes Golden chain worth USD - 2200 . was snatched. we compalined to Tourist police. Pls let me know what can we do ???
I must say that overall I am really impressed with this blog.It is easy to see that you are passionate about your writing. If only I had your writing ability I look forward to more updates and will be returning.
Some strict laws and actions should be implemented in order to reduce the crime rate in Kuala Lumpur so that everyone can travel safely.The Gevernment should do some major actions against such crimes to make Malaysia for tourist destination.
It is kidding my mind, it's really nuts, thanks for posting this research paper!!!
Maybe cleaning up the act at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA - Also Known As Keep Luggage Invisible Always) would be a good start. Items inside the luggage disappeared without a trace during transit at KLIA. I am sure the airport authority is aware of whats going on behind the scene at this airport. To be on the safe side, I advise my passengers to transit in Singapore instead. At least you can be assure that the Singapore Government imposes strict sentences for crimes of this sort.
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