I am sorry to read that JD Lovrenciear and his family were robbed and terrorised. Alas, I am also sorry too to see the all too common knee-jerk Malaysian reaction, which has its usual whiff of xenophobia.

His main complaint appears not that he was robbed, but that he was robbed by foreign nationals. I am a 'foreign national' and therefore, I suppose, I must accept that I, too, am responsible for many of Malaysia's ills.

According to a fairly large number of people including some politicians and media we are responsible for Aids in Malaysia, pornography, obviously all robberies, and of course 'unhealthy attitudes and negative values'.

I have actually been robbed here in Malaysia three times and my credit card was cloned. Were these crimes committed by foreigners? My wife was mugged in the street in Ampang last year when her handbag was snatched by two men in a Proton; were they foreigners?

Yes, I agree the police must get on top of this crime wave, regardless of the nationality of the criminals but do we really believe that Malaysia would be a crime-free paradise if no foreigners were here?

Personally I do not believe that life is that simple. Once, many of us Europeans thought as some Malaysians do - African drug dealers, Chinese triad members and oh yes, Muslim terrorists, responsible for all of Europe's crimes.

Sadly, some Europeans wrongly still think like this, but hopefully less and less. No one has the monopoly on crime, and making it a racial issue is not helping the situation.