Trader Got Robbed In Miri

Letter to the Star Editor

Refer to your report "Trader robbed of RM800,000 in gold" and The Starpaper comments "A businessman from Kuala Lumpur found out too late how foolish and costly it could be to walk in town alone" as well as the Police Chief remarks that the victim is careless and reckless.

Firstly I agree with the Police Chief in that the businessman should have a bodyguard when he carry so much valuable with him. As a matter of fact, a businessman or the general public should be discouraged from carrying large amount of cash or valuables with them whether in a big city or a dark alley.

But having said that, we should also take into considerations the nature of the business involved, the time and the place the robbery took place in this case.

In the example of the goldsmith businessman who got robbed, the nature of his business dictates that he carry his wares as samples to show his clientele otherwise he may not be able to close the sales, secondly, he is walking in the middle of the main city near a busy supermarket at late noon when he was robbed.

Taking into consideration the place and time of the robbery it is logical to say that the businessman is not careless nor is he reckless because he is not meandering alone in the middle of the night or at a dark secluded alley. Thus the Starpaper comments that it is "foolish and costly for the businessman to walk around town alone with his gold" is grossly misleading because it will and can be miscontrued by foreigners as well as Malaysians who has never been to Miri that our Malaysian cities street is full of robbers and is not a safe place to walk alone!

Also, it is the basic right of every citizen to expect a certain level of peace and security when we conduct our daily businesses or just walk through the street anytime of the day, especially in the middle of a busy city without being robbed, threatened with bodily harm or fearing for our safety.

To this end, the police, instead of chastising the victim could have given assurance, not only to the immediate victim but to the general public and the local or foregin businessman, who frequent our cities that the police do have a strategic long term plans on crime prevention and that our Malaysian cities street are in actual fact a relatively safe and peaceful place where we can walk alone anytime of the day.

Nov 28th - D editor dont seemed to like my comment thus was not publish.