Despite the " massive reduction" in crime rates as claimed by the government, we still read news on the murder of a real estate agent, death of an old lady due to a snatch theft, mafia style killings, ATM robberies and armed robberies in broad daylight, and attempted kidnappings in shopping complexes.

All these, incredibly, in just the space of a few weeks. And these were reported cases and surely, only the tip of the crime iceberg.

The relevant authorities continue with their denials, and the spin doctors working non-stop to project Malaysia as a safe country, in comparison to others.

A minister even claimed that the new media exaggerated the perception, as the same crime was reported and spread by internet, smartphones, SMS and coffeeshop talk.

Did he mean that a crime will turn into four crimes, if the same crime news was repeated in four mediums?

The traditional media and authorities, meanwhile, tries to pin the blame on the rakyat, claiming that the increase in crime is partly due to the rakyat's apathy when seeing fellow citizens being robbed.

One paper even suggested that we try to shout, show anger - a most funny and ridiculous suggestion.

Yet incredibly, these criminals and killers are "untouchables" as the police has warned us not to take the law into our own hands.

We are forced to convert our housing areas into a battle zones with gated and guarded communities, yet some of the newspapers seemed to often portray these as a nuisances, claiming that the barriers will inconvenience motorists or block emergency vehicles in times of emergencies.

How many emergencies does a housing area have?

So, what can the helpless rakyat do? We felt so defenceless.

Will the rakyat be forced to turn into masked vigilantes like Batman and Spiderman to fight the fearless criminals?

Will we be forced to carry guns for personal protection, like the Americans??

And by the way, I myself was robbed and nearly killed, twice, by robbers near my house, who smashed my head and back with parang .

The scary thing was, these robbers will attack you before they rob you.

I still bears the scars on my skull and back today.