MGG Pillai's comments in his article, ' This media frenzy over rape and security guards is to hide BN's self-destructive acts ', hits the nail on the head.

Nonetheless, I am amused and a bit concerned at the knee-jerk reactions expressed over the brutal rape of Nurul Huda and others. Reader reactions in New Straits Times and The Star forums have been energetic and primitive. I guess the reaction is 'normal'. Definitely something must be done.

In all the brouhaha , one item seems to stand out. At 47 years of age, one of the rapists had nine prior convictions. Imagine, that is one almost every five years if you figure he committed his first crime at the age of five. More realistically, he probably started at 15 and that would have him in and out of jail somewhere every four to five years.

This means the 'system' had their hands on this guy nearly a dozen times and they still could not keep him behind bars or deter him from a life of evil. His last conviction for house burglary netted him only four months' jail time. That summary tells me something about the system and it should tell the angry public something as well.

Let us combine all the violent criminal madness we endure here with growing traffic violations, drug addition, political corruption, police corruption, developers swindling home buyers, etc. Is there a general pattern? I say a resounding 'yes'.

The facts are very simply before us: The Royal Malaysian Police simply cannot protect us from willful violators of the law; the judicial procedure simply does not handle crime in a manner that will help to reduce it in the future. The truth is there for all of us to see, and Malaysia is not alone. This terrible phenomenon plagues all developed societies.

How does a man commit nine crimes and not land on the police blotter for follow-up? Is there no parole system here? Is there no 'three strikes and life imprisonment' here?

Maybe Malaysia needs to rethink beating the hell out of a criminal in public or meting out other violent punishment such as hanging. Maybe Malaysia simply needs to think about introducing real punishment to convicted criminals.

I do not really support a theocratic judiciary and penal system such as hudud. Nonetheless, there are provisions in that code that surely would have been a deterrent to the criminal on the second or third conviction. Hudud requires amputation for stealing. Amputate for molestation and rape as well. No need to stop at stealing if the authorities are too squeamish about killing rapists. Not a bad idea to deter repeat felony offenders no matter the crime.

I would recommend a modified approach that would require a first time offender to be tattooed on the wrist for his first offence so he could be reminded that number two would mean he would lose that hand or foot or whatever you want to remove from his body as punishment.

If he is dumb enough to repeat the offence, the authorities take the marked hand and tattoo the next appendage. Brutal? Harldy, not when you consider the damage a crime does to its victims. Effective? Well, is what we have today effective?

The public's reactions to this crime and others that crowd the news headlines today would indicate to me that the law enforcement we have in place is not really effective. So, let us see how effective our lawmakers can be with deterrent punishment of the hudud variety. No need to give PAS a victory. Simply call it Malaysian law and keep the religiosity out of the equation.

Use the strongest provisions of hudud, modify the application procedures a bit and try it out. Repeat criminals do not fear God's law or man's. As we cannot really wait for God to catch up with them, let us accelerate man's law in a direction that will remind the convicted criminal every day that he has a Damocles sword hanging over him.

And if he simply feels he can take the risk of a second offence, the law physically disables him so he won't be as an efficient criminal the third time. After the third conviction, plant him in the jail system until he becomes fertiliser.

Let the Westerners and other do-gooders protest all they want. The first conviction under this plan shows mercy and provides a continuous and visible reminder. The second conviction shows a little less mercy (after all, was not the kindness of the first punishment on conviction ignored?). The third conviction simply removes the criminal from society. There is no need for the do-gooders to cry over these people. Malaysia should not be seen as barbaric.

Harking back to religious teaching, piling on moral teachings, etc, is wasting time. Yes, children need moral and religious training, but at home. Schools cannot do it properly. They barely teach the basics. Instead, set stringent criminal penalties.

Show young people the effect of those penalties with a field trip to the jail to view an amputation or two. Scary? Indeed, but the example will definitely be remembered and I feel young people will get the message quickly. I will be the first to sign up my two sons to see an execution. Make the field trip mandatory for graduation.

Although I agree with Mr Pillai that the crime level is a byproduct of government misuse of the police, I do feel that a change in the penal system for serious crimes would improve the chances that repeat offences will be lower than they are today.

Should I expect the authorities to really take effective action in a timely way? After reading all the sop and hair-brained ideas from the government pundits and non-governmental organisations, I am wondering if I should bet on it.