i curse them...

Dear all,

30 March 2009 (Monday) was like any other day, everything seems normal, i left office around 820pm-830pm. it was raining so i had to use my umbrella to walk to my car. My car was parked at the last lot on the philip wain reserved car park right behind the Milenium Tower building, at the corner next to the loading bay.

i am always very cautious. i always lock my car door when i drive, pump petrol, or even to stop for a few seconds just to drop a letter into the roadside mail box.

but it was raining on 30 March 2009, around 830pm. so i'd need to close my umbrella before i could shut my car door and lock it. just at that very split second, a dark-skinned, 5'3", 55-60kg, small-built guy, with black tees and black helmet, opened my front passenger door (left) and grabbed my handbag, which was still hung on my left arm. To avoid any unnecessary complexity, i let my handbag go. that scumbag shut my car door and ran towards his mate who was waiting for him on a kapchai. i screamed my lungs out during the whole incident. there was a guy standing next to his car, which was parked about 20ft away from me. Before the guy could turn his head to check out what happened, the scumbag was no where in sight.

i quickly locked my car, drove to the side entrance of Milenium Tower (the HSBC entrance) and inform one of the security guard. I drove straight to the pondok police at pusat bandar damansara but it was closed. i went straight to bangsar police station. while driving i've managed to block all my ATMs, credit cards, and my phone (i had another phone with me, thank goodness to that). I made a police report at bangsar police station (Jalan Telawi) at around 8:35pm and then i had to go to the Travers Police Station to meet up with Insp Fairul for further questioning.

these are the advice given by the inspector:
= make a police report IMMEDIATELY right after the snatch crime happens
= you may want to skip the deactivation / blocking instruction to your phone company or your banks and your credit card carriers
= let the thieves use the phone or credit cards, as all transaction made after the time of the reported crime will be waived by the banks and telcos (i was informed that the banks and telcos have insured these losses). this is the only way for the police dept to trace all the scumbags. and due to the fact that most people will be panic and the first thing that comes to their mind is to block / deactivate their phone, ATMs and credit cards, so it is harder for the police dept to locate these scumbags.

his advice seems logical, and i really should hope what the inspector was telling me is true, as this involves resources and technology ability. i certainly would love to see the drop of crime rate, and hope that no one else should go through the same ordeal, it was really traumatising.

i am writing this mail to warn everyone (men or women included) to be extra careful, and to share what I've learnt from this experience:
a) worth to invest in good alarm system for your car, esp those that can only open the driver's side door and the rest still remain locked.
b) do not keep your house key in your bag, esp when your IC or mails/bills that have your full address
c) have your phone and your car key in your hand when you walk to your car
d) be alert with your surroundings
e) do not park your car too close by to walls which will slow you down from getting into the car and lock your car immediately
f) keep some spare change in your car, in case you've lost your phone and can use the spare change to call someone for help. also this is useful when you make police report as you'll have to pay RM2 for each report (dont complaint, we have other bigger "complain-able" issue in our system) (insp fairul donated RM2 to help me paid for my report).
g) stay calm and let the scumbag take the money, instead of harming you. dont try to play hero. i was lucky as the scumbag wasn't holding a parang.
h) if you are alone, is good to have someone to stay with you for the night, at least, as it will be quite traumatising

i curse all scumbags, i curse them to cirit birit no matter what they eat. i hope they trip and fall whenever they walk. i hope they fell when they ride their bikes. i hope they wont get killed in road accident but neither can they live. i am furious with the whole thing. i hope non of you will have to experience anything like this, although my case wasn't as scary / horrible as others.

i was informed that there was a similar snatch crime happened on the same day, same place just before what happened to me.