Living in Fear at Home

OH ING YEEN gives a first-hand account of being a burglary victim.

AS I was about to leave work for home, I suddenly received a text from my father, “Do not come home now”.

It got me worried but instinct told me I should not call him.

After waiting for about 15 minutes, I finally received a call from my father saying that five armed robbers had broken into my house.

My family members locked themselves in a room upstairs for a long time, and did not dare leave for a long time, fearing that the robbers might still be in the house.

When I finally got home, I saw the house was messy but thankfully my family was not harmed.

The security guard for our neighbourhood only came by about an hour later.

We were curious how the robbers entered the neighbourhood as there was only one access point to the area and it was manned by guards.

We got our answer as we drove out of the neighbourhood to check into a hotel for the night. We were shocked and angry to see one of the guards on duty sleeping at the guard post!

This is the second time my house has been broken into but the first incident occurred when no one was at home.

Once, during the wee hours of the morning, my father heard a scream and went out to look as he thought my neighbour was in trouble.

A female foreigner tried to barge into our house, claiming that “someone was coming to get her”.

My father refused to let her in and said he could help her to call the police instead.

He also tried to get help from one of the guards who passed by our house on his motorcycle but the guard sped off instead.

We are one of the few residents who pay for security every month and have been paying for years.

After these break-ins, I do not see the point of having our roads barricaded and paying RM70 per month.

I have heard of some neighbourhoods that saw a drop in break-ins after employing guards. It is just unfortunate that ours is not one of them.