Case 1
A hardworking, friendly, young, pretty, and educated (graduate of Universiti Utara Malaysia) Marketing executive Chee Gaik Yap, was abducted by several men, gang-raped and brutally murdered while jogging near Taman Ria Jaya, Sungai Petani, on Jan 14, 2006, at 6 PM. Her half-naked dead body was found 9 hours later. Gaik Yap was about to be sent to Germany by her company for work next week and was in high spirits.

Before that, her sister found her track shoe by the roadside. There were bloodstains on the ground nearby. Her sister rushed to the guardhouse of a gated community. After being informed of Gaik Yap’s disappearance, the security guard did not immediately call the police. The guard said the bloodstains could have been because someone had bled from an accident and asked her sister to check with the hospital.

(Update: After almost 10 years, on 9 Aug 2015, the High Court sentenced the rapist+murderer Shahril Jaafar, 34, to death for murdering Chee Gaik Yap. However, it’s a suffering experience and long wait for her family, when this criminal is a son of Datuk. May her souls rest in peace.)

Case 2
Canny Ong Lay Kian, a young and beautiful information technologist, had flown back from the US to visit her ailing father in KL, was having a night out with friends at the Bangsar Shopping Complex, KL, on Jun 13, 2003. She was kidnapped in the basement car park (all this was recorded by the CCTV in the shopping complex). Later she was stabbed, thrown down the drain and burned alive.

Both victims are young, pretty and educated. They should have a bright and promising future. The society and family had been spending over 20 years to cultivate them, and the rapists, the sisa masyarakat, destroyed them in just an hour. In general, everyone will agree to award these rapists a death penalty, plus 20+ canning by rotan, before they are hang to death. Some even think this is not enough (me too). But these cannot bring the victims back… I cannot imagine how their family feel when they see an unoccupied seat in the coming Chinese New Year Eve (family gathering day). The pain will be inbearable, even after many years.

I have more to say…

The sickening murderers are the main ones to be blamed. However, I have strong opinions about the lazy and sloppy security guards. Just look at the two cases above. For the first case, the security guard was obviously fucking lazy. For the second case, the security guards probably slept in the CCTV room? After the murder, then they became very hardworking and patrol in car park, fucking late already…

I never have a good impression about those chap barang security guard. Just let me list of few of their common styles:
1) Many do not know how to deal with emergency situation
2) Some are less than 5 feet and 50 Kg
3) They let you sign the log book and never verify the I/C
4) Or they want to keep your I/C (by right they cannot do that)
5) If boss not around, they don’t dress properly. A sign of poor discipline
6) If you don’t check, they would be missing in action
7) Many are drug addict. Be sure to check the unoccupied room if you hire a new security guard. If you find candle, lighter, needle or other suspicious object, fire him immediately.

In short, they are not professional and are poor quality, with lousy attitude. I wonder if they have taken any formal training. Is there any committee to set and monitor the quality standard? It does not make sense if you let the persons with defective personality to take care of the most important assets and even precious life.

Let’s see another case. On Jan 17, 2004, in Tanjung Kupang, Gelang Patah, Johor, 10-year-old Nurul Huda Abdul Ghani was on her way to do some errands for her mom. She was raped by a security guard in the guardhouse, and the security guard invited drug addicts to gang-rape the girl as well, and later strangled her to death. Some security guards are suspected to arrange a robbery with outsiders to rob their customers such as bank… Well, “Harapkan Pagar, Pagar Makan Padi…”

Money Lending must be a good business. It is impossible not seeing the advertisement like the pictures below. We see it on the newspapers, or you may have thrown many of these ad that were found on your car window, mailbox… Most are very “secret”, only got phone numbers but no name is listed.

I don’t know if they are loan sharks. There is one saying, “Money lent is money spent.” I had bad experience lending money to a friend. When he wanted to borrow money, he begged, almost fell on his knee. Ok lah, lend the $ to him. After that, he was like vaporised. Never look for me, never answer my call. If I found him and reminded him, then he answered impatiently, “OK LAH, OK LAH!!! I paid you back next month!!!” Then no news again for months. Next time I saw him, he looked at me fiercely, like I killed his father. End up I begging for his mercy to return the money (but he never did). I didn’t really mind about the money. I only felt so sad that I helped him as a friend, and he toyed and fucked with me. It is absolutely no fun being taken advantage of.. by a friend. I only can say that I was blind to believe his promise. My dad also lent money to his “friends” and what he got? Bounced cheques and “black” faces… They have money to buy luxury stuffs but have no money to pay you. And they wish you are tired of asking and never ask for the money back again. You will not forget their ugly faces.

I believe loan sharks are also “business” people. They will love to have a happy and continuing relationship with their customers. People borrow $ from them and return it on time, with intere$t, so both sides got what they want. If they have the choice, they may not use extreme / violence method to force the debtors to pay the debt. I don’t mean that they are doing the right thing. But for certain debtors, “No Pain (to debtor), No Gain (to money lender)” method is probably more effective. Not all debtors are “innocent” or victim. If you can’t get your money back, you are really a victim. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t like loan sharks. Anyway, they exist because some people want them.

Finally I dumped my 3-year-old and malfunction Samsung SGH-A800 flip phone (b&w screen) and replaced it with Nokia 6020 today. Cost me nearly RM600, quite hurt. But now I have more toys to play with, video and voice recording, MMS, colour screen, GPRS, and a crappy 0.3 MP camera. In the past, I could not read any MMS and Chinese love messages. Now you may try to send it to me again.

This afternoon I had fun trying the camera in Wisma Merdeka. Now I can get closer to the people. In Sabah, we are already sick of those drivers who drive at 40KM/H at right lane. Compared to big city, Sabah people are relatively s…l…o…w… and they also enjoy making others slow. A lot of jam is not really caused by amount of traffic. Below are the evidences:

1. Blocking the Busy Walkway
It is a common scene that two or more persons stand in the middle of busy walkway or the entrance. They may have a long conversation and hehehaha. Probably they think they have eaten a lot of glass (become transparent). Say sorry sincerely if you walk pass between them coz it is impolite to disrupt their conversation.

2. Seize the Lift!!!
Sabah people are very afraid of lift. They worry that if they enter too slow into the lift, the door will close and smash them into pieces. So they will rush in, without waiting for the people inside to walk out. It is advisable that you stand and get ready behind the door before it opens, otherwise you will be trapped in the lift and can’t get out forever.

3. Ikut Escalator Jika Tidak Memotong
Sabah people who first time travel in big city such as Hong Kong will kena marah if they use the escalator. There is an unwritten rule that the people on the escalator should let one side of the lane totally clear, for those who want to rush. The principal is just same as the road that has right lane as highway. In Sabah, we got plenty of time to waste. Take it easy ok.

We have been bothered by the street boys. They are poor, dirty, and “naugthy”. Nobody likes them. Well, what we expect a poor and uneducated child can do? They are just trying to survive. Some of them don’t even have a nationality. If we cannot get rid of them, maybe we should try to give them a chance to get formal education and become useful someone, instead of a social problem. I am not a politician, so I don’t know how to solve the street boy problems. I only heard that it is a complex issue (excuse?).

I took the photo at the left in Madras, India (south-eastern part) when I was helping a project there. This street boy came to me and asked for money. He looked so kesian. When I tried to give him money, my Indian friends stopped me. He pointed to dozens of other street boys nearby and said, “If you give him $, all of them will come to you like flies.” Then this boy came to me again and wanted me to take a picture of him (at first I thought he wanted to splash water at me coz I did not give him money). It makes me feel sad seeing that the innocent smile is from a thin and dirty body. It was 5 years ago and I hope he is doing ok and don’t lose hope about the world.

They are really the “hardcore” street boys. Compared to the street boys in India, the Sabah street boys are much more lucky and “modern”? At least they got shoes and proper cloth to wear.