Spate of burglaries stirs folk into action
THE STAR Penang 30/9/2004

ENOUGH is enough. Four burglaries within a day last week at Desa Bayan apartments in Penang got apathetic flat owners so angry that they got together to act. 

They have formed a vigilante group and are carrying out patrolling within the compound of their apartments. 

“How long are we expected to wait and allow the security threat to prevail. 

“We do not want to be sitting ducks,” Residents’ Association (RA) chairman Abdul Razak Hussin said after a meeting held a day after the break-ins recently. 

The flat dwellers want better security arrangement from the management company and blame the lack of it for the seven break-ins that happened this year. 

Abdul Razak said on Monday last week, four apartment units were broken into, resulting in losses totalling more than RM48,000. 

”Only a security guard is on duty at any one time and cannot leave his post to patrol around the two 17-storey blocks.  

“Most of the residents have been staying here for the past 18 months and a proper guardhouse has yet to be built,” he said. 

Abdul Razak said the management company told us that a guardhouse would only be built after the developer had completed three other blocks. 

RA vice chairman Sia Khoon Eng, 48, claimed complaints to the management company had fallen onto deaf ears. 

“They kept on firing blank promises,” said Sia, adding that the number of security guards posted at the apartment blocks was clearly insufficient. 

Commending on the residents’ initiative to carry out patrolling, Balik Pulau OCPD Supt Shuib Husain said residents should work hand in hand with the security personnel at their respective apartments. 

He said the residents should also cooperate by asking their relatives and friends who visit them at the apartment to register at the security post. 

“This will help the guards to be more alert and also be aware of the people going in and out of the apartment premises,'' he said. 

Shuib urged residents of high-rise apartments to make an effort to know their neighbours, especially those residing on the same floor. 

“If possible, they should also be a kaypoh chee (busybody) at times and know about their neighbours' movements,'' he added. 

He said in most cases, the break-ins were committed by “residents'' who were aware of the movements of the other residents. 

“Residents should be wary of tenants who check out apartments on the pretext of renting a unit for a couple of months,'' he said. 

Shuib said they would approach the security guards and enquire the whereabouts of a certain unit's owner who might be away on a holiday. 

“Some of these guards fall into the trap and reveal the whereabouts of the owner,'' he added. 

Shuib urged the security guards to think “like a criminal'' and be suspicious, mindful and alert when approached by people enquiring the whereabouts of residents. 

“When approached by these suspicious characters, they should alert the nearest police station,'' he said.