Life snatchers!

YET ANOTHER LIFE had been wasted by snatch thieves. Thief seems to be a lame name for them. One dictionary defines thief as one who steals especially with stealth. They are no more than just thieves. They are snatching away more than handbags, they snatching away people’s lives. They are snatching loved one from families, a mother, a sister, a grandmother, a wife ….they are MURDERERS!. And they should be dealt with that way!
I was snatched twice in my life but I guess I was a bit lucky to have lived. Let me share my experience with you in case you can learn something from it.

The first time was in Sunway in 1999. I had just got my month’s salary that day in my handbag gifted by my mother. I was crossing the road to go home. Somehow I like to carry my handbags crossed over my shoulders. I reached the divider and paused to see whether the road was clear on the other side. Two guys on a motorbike came out of the entrance and turned right from my left. Their motor was wobbling and I was so naïve to think they were having some problem with their bike. So I quickly went on to cross. And just about I reached the other side, they came in front of me and snatched my handbag. Luckily my strap snapped and all the *&^%$# got was my strap. They stopped. I screamed for help, clutched my bag and ran for my life towards the flats. I was lucky to be alive that day as they decided to leave. Since then I developed a phobia for the sound of motorbike approaching me whenever I’m walking along any road. My heart will start pounding and my body will go into fight and flight reaction. And I can’t get rid of it. I trust no motorbikers till now. And I stopped carrying handbags. I only wear pants with pockets where I can keep my IC and nothing more than 20-30 ringgits. But who is going to pay for my shrink since it looks like I need one?

I became a mother in 2000 and I had to carry more than my IC and loose cash. I had to carry essential baby stuff any mother needs to have in handy. So I bought a back sling bag so I could carry my baby with ease. In 2003, right in the middle of afternoon at 1.30pm, I had to rush from my office to the baby sitter to check on my sick child. I parked my car and was walking back to my office near Sec 5 PJ, my mind was full of worries that day. I was lost in my thoughts and since my office was a few seconds away, I just flung my bag over a shoulder. I hardly heard a motorbike approaching, I guess they know how to muffle their engines now because although it was a quite residential area, I heard nothing. I slacked for one moment. It was so swift. I turned around just to catch the gleam of a knife going under my bag strap and a bearded face and it was off. I was lucky I guess the knife didn’t cut me. And he was off with my bag with everything I had, cash, car keys, house keys, baby stuff and the medicine I had bought for my kid. This time I froze. I couldn’t move. The whole fear thing came rushing back to me. I had been so careful since the last time. And I couldn’t believe it had happened to me again. I vaguely noted that his number plate was covered up with a cloth. My numbness was quickly replaced by anger. I ran after him, he already had a good 30 feet ahead of me. He sped off but before that he had the cheek to turn around and give me a smile. I would have given anything to smash his face that day. I felt like losing my mind and I was this mad woman in the middle of the road, screaming and yelling. One lady came out from one of the houses and she was like, “I don’t know how to help you!” and she shut her door. I was grateful for three ladies in a car, who were going out for lunch who stopped and gave me a lift. We tried to chase after him but he had disappeared. They dropped me back in my office and I borrowed some money from my colleagues and took a cab to the nearest police station only to be told to find another branch, as the area of crime was not under their jurisdiction. I went to the other one and spent like 2 hours making a report and they sent me back to the first one to get a copy of report and I waited another 1½ hour for the officer in charge to turn up. I was so worried for my car cause I’m sure the thief would have seen me get out of it and he had my keys with in the bag. But I had asked a colleague to keep watch from the office just in case and all I could do was to pray.
The policeman went through my report all over again. And when he had finished, he was like ‘I will take immediate action!” He picked up his phone and sort of went, “Here there is a report of snatch thief in this area about 4 hours ago. Can you go look for any suspicious characters.” He didn’t even wait for a reply and he hung up. I wished really, that he was really sincere because something told me otherwise and he was just going through the motion. I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best anyway. Since my husband was also out of town, I had a colleague take me to my home in KL and I had to pay a locksmith RM150 to break my house locks and buy new locks. I got my spare car keys and rushed back to my car in the late evening federal highway traffic jam (and we all know how that is) Then I rushed to get my kid to the clinic again. My office work had to be put on hold that day though I had a dateline, my boss excused it but was not so pleased. By the time I got home again, it was 9pm, put my kid in bed and cried myself sore. My body was shivering. That knife could have slit my throat, if I had moved wrongly. I barely slept that night, or the next. I dreaded going back that road to my office the next day or the next month. And I had to reapply for everything, my IC, my driver’s licence, my bank cards and I had lost some precious things of sentimental value I had in the bag. All because of one lazy, selfish, vicious monster who found it more convenient living on other people’s hard earned money and their lives!
Now, tell me, why do we still keep calling them ‘thieves’ and treating them like ‘thieves’. We should be hunting them down like murderers and locking them up for good, forever or just hang them!