Johor Bahru - My Hometown aka Cowboy town

I am mad, angry and full of hate. Damn it! When will it stop? I was driving to work when the DJ of MyFM criticised the police for their apparent primitive ways of solving crime. Instead of sketching out the looks of the 4 rapists, the police actually dump a few year collections of criminal photos and expect the rape victims to shortlist those inside. Needless to say, they were not able to and worst still, they come out totally confused. They now even have difficulty remembering those 4 faces after seeing so many thousand photos at such a short time. The DJ was real angry and feel that the police should have done better by filtering some of these pictures. Hey, what do you expect from these people? They would prefer to hide behind a tree or some bushes to catch some traffic offender and earn some pretty good amount of pocket money than to do some serious patrolling. It's their rezeki!

Johor Bahru used to be a peaceful, serene and above all a safe place. But recent events of gang rape and snatch theft has again reaffirmed it's tag of a crime infested city. Well, what else the city is infested with?

As a johorean, it's sad to know that the state police has not been performing. There are many things that JB can be proud of. For example, we have a flourishing prostitution and gambling ring which always have new girls from all over nations, we (used to) have the nation biggest nightclub, we have largest amount of illegal Indonesian, we have an economy that is comfortably dependent upon Singapore, we have a idiotic and inefficient MB in Abdul Ghani Othman, and we have the worst police force (by the way, the same goes to the whole nation).
For further reassurance, let it be known that the corruption tainted ex-ACA (Anti Corruption Agency) boss used to be the police chief of the state. By the way, how he got the job baffles me when he has corruption cases lodge against him prior to the appointment.

So who should be responsible for the current state of affairs in JB?
The police for their tidak apa attitude?
The immigration and marine police for not guarding our coastline against the influx of Indonesians?
The state government for depending too much on Singapore investment?
The high Sing Dollar which attracted many Ah Beng, Ah Seng from every corner of Malaysia to work in labour intensive jobs in Singapore?
These people commute daily from JB and they too are a source of problem as they bring along their group of triads and gangs from the villages. These people are just temporary visitor that wanted to earn as much as possible. As such, they don't give a damn to the environment and society they lived in. And often than not, most of them are involved in any illegal activities you could think off.

Is JB a good place to stay? It's a definite NO! And I am sad of it cause personally, I wanted to return to JB for good, soon. I fear for my gf, my future children and anyone that I cared for. My parents are still in JB and they can easily provide a personal account of snatch theft, car hijacking, and plenty of serious crime committed within their own small community.

The whole letter sounded negative and I understand there will be frens and brothers/sisters (in JB) that will disagree with me or even feel offended. I hope they would understand that it's not JB that I hate, but all the illegal immigrant, bad influences and anything that is alein to the city. But hey, anything that I can help in KL? Perhaps I can help to fling a stone towards the Seri Perdana at PutraJaya?

Here are some like minded Johoreans in TheStar Blog.

Short list of recent crimes in JB by blogger Scott Thong
Another list of crimes in JB from Sophie's World
More details on the case of ram and rape in Jalan Pontian - Johor Bahru road
The news in Singapore newspaper(The Electric New Paper) that went unreported in The Star (the paper without guts)
Sin Chew has a list of all these crimes in archive here.

Excerpts from the news that make me scream with hate and anger ...and of course frustration that I cannot do much....

From the case of ram and rape -

"....May stumbled to the main road and tried to get help.
Thankfully, five people on their way to supper saw the crying girl and stopped their car.
They called the police and ambulance - but were asked to call other police branches, as the robbery and rapes had taken place in different jurisdictions.
Said one of the good Samaritans: 'The boyfriend was lying on the grass bleeding... We waited for half an hour, and when no police came, three of my friends sent them to the hospital in the car, while two of us followed in a taxi.'
He said he felt sickened when they passed a toll booth just 500m from where they found the victims, and saw a police patrol car.
His parents went to a police station to make a report, but no action was taken.
The brother then drove to the Gelang Petah area himself to try to look for them.
He spotted a patrol car and flagged it down. He said he begged the three police officers inside to help search for the couple, but the officers were unmoved and later drove off.
A Johor police spokesman said the unfortunate situation had arisen because the robbery and rape took place in different jurisdictions.
He said that when the public call the police, they need time to ascertain the location and situation of the crime, and delays may result.
He said the matter would be investigated thoroughly...."

Excerpts from real life experience in Johor Jaya from a poster in The Star Blog -

"...Today my gf was robbed IN FRONT of her house in Jalan Bakawali in broad daylight (arnd 4.30pm) by two guys on a motorcycle. It happened when my gf was outside the house approaching her car when both the robbers ride in her direction and stop beside her. One of the robbers took out a long parang and placed it on my gf's face, "knocking" at her face to show that they were doing real "business" here. My gf, of course, feared for her life, just passed her bag to the robbers. All this happened within 1 min. For your information, when this incident took place, there were a number of people around the area. But as usual, they could only watched and do nothing while my gf's family members shouted very loudly for help. When the robbers saw my gf's family members running out, they didn’t nudge abit nor tried to flee. They just continued on with their "job". This shows how robbers today act without fear and as though it is right for them to do so. When my gf went to the police station to file report for missing documents, the officers over there just asked "Apa hilang?" (what's missing), "Mana" (Where it happened", "Pukul berapa?" (What time it happened).
That's all. Later, it followed with a statement, "Cik, ini case biasa-lah. Tak boleh tangkap punya, nasib la." (Miss, this is normal, there is no way for us to catch them, just your luck). Yes, that's how our MALAYSIAN police do their jobs. That's their kind of attitude that makes the robbers more "invincible" as they know no one will come after them. WIll all this problem end by increasing their salary, providing more police station and patrol car, increasing police in johor... i sincerely doubted it. ............."

Just hope this will be reported big in Malaysiakini