Sunday, April 22, 2007

Of safety & security

UAE is probably one of the safest country in the world really! Violent crimes are almost unheard off in this part of the world. Although there are many South Asian laborers but the general feel here is still safe. Quite unlike where I have worked before - Johor Bahru! You also feel reassured as there are always police patrols around. Where I live, there is even a military checkpoint on the main road leading to the power station. And the army makes regular patrol around the area.

So there's no wonder that it created quite a commotion recently when robbers rammed into a shopping mall in Dubai and robbed a jewelry shop. The incident happened in Wafi Mall and golds and diamonds worth millions were carted away in just 1 min 45 secs (talk about efficiency). The police arrived within 3 mins - hmmm... how long would it normally take our Malaysian police to arrive at the scene? Dubai is a City of Gold. There is a Gold Souq in Deira where the amount of gold on display will definitely make any robber's mouth water! But yet, safe for this one serious incident, I've not heard of any serious crimes here. According to a recent statement, serious crimes like murder, kidnap, rape etc. amount to 0.5 to 1 for 100,000 people compared to the global average of 4 - 6.

Back home in Malaysia - we are not that fortunate huh? Everyday I read Thestar online, I see news reports of robbery, murder, rape, incest... Malaysia not such a safe haven as it used to be, sadly... Maybe there's something the law enforcers in Malaysia can learn from UAE - especially on how UAE disciplines its foreign labor workforce! We definitely need to do something about that in Malaysia!

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