Stolen

I learnt a big lesson a couple of days ago - no matter how safe you think a place is, it never hurts to be extra careful.

It's true Melbourne is relatively safer than KL. However, it is not crime-free. Two days ago, I fell victim to a pickpocket right smack in Chinatown. Someone unzipped the front pocket of my backpack and stole my wallet.

Back in KL, I would never carry my backpack on my back and put my wallet in the front pocket. But here, lulled into complacency and the assumption that no one would pick my wallet, I did just that - convenient for me to carry the bag and hold the kids' hands.

Now I know better. I should exercise the same precautions that I did back in KL.

Luckily, there wasn't much cash in the wallet and only 1 ATM and 1 credit card. Once I discovered the theft, I quickly called the banks concerned and had the cards barred. My driver's license and Medicare card were easily replaced. There wasn't a need to make a police report. My requests to replace my library cards and several retailer loyalty cards were efficiently and quickly granted too. At least there wasn't so much hassle here.

Well, the incident was certainly a wake-up call for us. People do abduct kids and do nasty things to them, although not quite as frequently as in Malaysia. Still, I'll certainly be more careful now whenever I'm out with the kids. I've on several occasions left the kids on a bench in the market while I quickly did my grocery shopping nearby. That is going to stop immediately. Too risky.

And Alex will have to stop leaving the kids to me to watch over while he goes browsing on his own. It's hard to watch over 2 kids when they want to go to different sections of the store. He'll have to do his share of kids watching now.

That was certainly a lesson worth learning.

No More Paradise

A couple of days ago I overheard two women of Chinese descent at the grocery shop talking about visiting other countries. I missed the earlier part of their conversation but caught the part about countries not to visit.

One of them said Thailand should be avoided because of some unrest in the southern part of the country. She then added that Malaysia wasn't a good place to visit as well. "Too chaotic and not safe," she said in Cantonese.

I nearly jumped and came to Malaysia's defense, proclaiming that my country of origin was one of the safest countries in the world. Then I stopped myself before I made an utter fool of myself.

After all, Malaysia has not been a safe haven for quite some time. It's true there are no unrest or riots (not that I'm aware of or these are not reported in the papers) there but the crime rates have escalated at alarming speeds lately. I keep hearing stories of petty crimes being committed even in small towns like my hometown in Bukit Mertajam.

And in Cheras, where my inlaws are still living, the situation has gone so bad the residents there feel like they are sitting on a time bomb, each wondering when someone would break into their homes. In fact, their neighbour 2 houses away just fell prey to some intruders last week.

Visitors may shy away from Malaysia thinking it's not safe because of terror threat or political unrest. But they have no idea what wise move it is to bypass Malaysia. They probably would have gone home much poorer if they are unfortunate enough to have their pockets picked.

It's sad but true. Malaysia is no longer the paradise it used to be.