The brutal killing of a school teacher at Happy Garden in Old Klang Road in Kuala Lumpur in broad daylight saw the arrival of a team of police personnel to carry out investigations.

Unfortunately, if only there was just one policeman on patrol, this murder could have been avoided and the nation would have enjoyed the services of another dedicated teacher.

When will our authorities come to full realisation that our streets are not safe? Do we need to lose thousands of lives daily before the police adopt preventive crime strategies instead of continuing to react to every murderous crime being committed on our streets and housing areas?

On my recent visit to Vietnam, I was told by a handful of Vietnamese that many of their friends had fallen victim to street crime and house break-ins while in Malaysia. It would be hard to argue against that as I myself have been a victim of a house break-in.

All the development and its trappings mean nothing if our daily life, day and night, have to be endured with a degree of fear in our hearts. If the London cops can cut street crime even without firearms, there is no reason why we should continue to let crime on our streets and in our neighborhoods to occur. Worse, we are opting to teach our kids how to use firearms while in national service.

Hopefully, some caring and concerned NGO can lead the way in drive home the point as our leaders do not seem to be doing anything to ensure safety on the streets, in the shopping malls and in our neighborhoods.

It is ridiculous to sing the same mantra that citizens must take extra care. At this rate we may only earn number one position in some international survey for being the most unsafe country.