This is an account of what I went through last month. Just wanted to highlight the multiple ‘enlightenments’ I had going through the event.

Last month, my house was broken into while I was at work. The robbers, as usual, ransacked the whole house. They managed to cart away my safe which was in my bedroom. In the safe were birth certificates, death certificate, passports, jewelry, foreign currencies, house grant, fixed deposit certificates, etc. I am not going to state the estimated amount of loss here as that is not the point of this letter.

I was obviously in shock and felt insecure when I saw what had happened upon reaching home. My first thought was to make a police report at the nearby police station, ie, the USJ police station. The police officer took down all the details and told me to wait at home for the police photographer to come for a photo shoot.

I headed home and the photographer arrived within minutes. He took some pictures but didn't do any fingerprint dusting.

The next day, we went to see the investigating officer. He inquired as to why the police photographer didn't do any fingerprint dusting. The photographer's reply was that the scene had been touched (1). We answered a few questions and left. The questions asked were angled more towards why we kept so much valuables at home - not questions that would assist in investigations (2).

Upon reaching home, a neighbour came over and said that he saw our door ajar the night before and made a police report. The police came, saw the scene and closed the front door for us (3).

A few days later, another neighbour came up to us to inquire if everything was alright. He highlighted to us that another neighbor saw three Negros breaking into the house at about 2pm. Two male and one female. The female was waiting in a blue Gen-2 outside the house while the two males did their work. They came in through the rubbish chute at the gate (4).

Okay, now to the renewing of documents.

Birth certificates and death certificate:

The birth certificates were pretty smooth. Pay and regenerate. However, the death certificate was another thing. The deceased passed away at the UKM Hospital about 10 years ago. We obtained the death certificate from the hospital. However, as far as the National Registration Department is concerned, the person is still alive!

We were told to go to UKM Hospital to obtain a copy of the death certificate so that the department can update their records (5).

Passport:

All went smoothly except for the fact that if we wanted a new passport immediately, there would be a penalty. If we were able to wait, we wouldn't be penalised. The penalty is the price of a five-year passport (RM300) but you only get a two-year validity passport (6). The three years you paid for but don’t get is the penalty.

Fixed Deposit Certificates:

We have four FD certificates, three of which are with Maybank. All at different branches. All branches have differing renewal fees for the reprinting of the certificates. We obtained the reprinted certificates on the spot except for one branch which required a one day processing time.

The reason given was that the branch cannot be responsible and they have to be sure that the certificates belonged to us. Upon calling Maybank's HQ to inquire on the procedure, the officer agreed to reprint the certificate for us on the spot (7).

House grant:

This is the most confusing of all. As the house is located in USJ, the most obvious place to go to is the Land Office in Subang Jaya. Upon inquiry, we were told that the Subang Jaya office doesn't issue copies of house grants. We had to go to the one in Shah Alam.

They even told us they don't know the procedure for doing so but gave us some forms and told us that we needed a police report and a statement that is evidenced by a Commissioner of Oaths (8).

We inquired at the Land Office in Shah Alam. The procedure they told to us was different. The forms were different and they even gave us a sample of the statement required. We went home to make the statement as per the sample given, collected all the required documents and obtained the Commissioner of Oath's endorsement.

Upon meeting up with the officer at the Land Office with all the documents, we were told that we actually have to go downstairs to extract the house grant before submitting anything. As such, we proceeded to extract the house grant - a procedure which takes a week.

We had no choice but to wait for a week to obtain the extraction before submission of the other documents.

A week later, after collecting the extraction, we submitted the required documents to the Land Office officer only to be told that the police report was not valid as it did not state the details of the property (daerah, mukim, etc). The police report only stated the address of the house (9). So, we had to go back to the police station to make a fresh report. (10).

We headed back to the Land Office in Shah Alam and finally managed to submit everything.

The overall point I want to highlight here is attitude and efficiency.

Point 1: No fingerprint dusting was taken due to the fact that the scene had been touched. If you notice point 3 above, the people who touched it were the police that came earlier. How come there was no record that there was a break-in reported and that the police were there before?

Why was there no communication at all? If serious investigation is intended, why no efforts were made to dust the scene for fingerprint when the first police arrived?

Point 2: What's the point of making me feel even worse? Get on with concrete questions for investigation! Not ‘serve you right for keeping so many things at home’! After that, I didn't see any investigations being conducted like questioning the neighbours.

If policy did that, I am sure point 4 would have been highlighted to them. Are the details in point 4 not helpful in tracking down the culprits?

Point 4: That's the attitude nowadays. Tolong jiran or tolong tengok? Despite all the money spent on educating people on the ways to reduce crime, this still happens. If she could relate all the details of the incident, I am sure she had enough time to call the police!

Point 5: The deceased who passed away 10 years ago is still alive? Again, no procedures for inter-department update? Furthermore, I have to do all the running around to help them update their records? So, what's the procedure to register a death?

Point 6: Funny ruling that states that if you want your passport urgently, you will be penalised three years’ fees. If it is not urgent, we won't penalise you? So what's the procedure and ruling? What's the logic behind the penalty if you want a new passport urgently?

Point 7: It seems non-communication of lack of standard procedures has permeated to the private sector too.

Point 8: To the Land Office, a police report is not good enough to say that you lost your house grant but in Point 9, the police report suddenly becomes important and must state all the details. So, why the need for a commissioner of oaths endorsed statement if the police report is so important?

What's the standard procedure here? Further to that, I don't think a layman would know that all the details are required in the police report.

Point 10: New police report? Can't we save time and money and just add on to the existing police report as an addendum? Inefficient procedure?

All in all, I had to do a lot of running around due to non-standard procedures and non-communication of clear rulings and procedures to the public. This leaves too much leeway for officers to take things into their own hands. But on the other hand, maybe these officers don't even know the actual procedure. Quality and efficient public service?

Time and resources (both petrol and all the fees and penalties I had to pay) were wasted. Not only had I lost my belongings, I had to pay more and incur extra expenses.

The above is very real in our society. Most of us would say public service is like that so just accept it. But why can't we do something about it? We pay taxes which contribute to these public services. Why can't we have good and efficient ones? We have websites of all the departments so can't they even think of publishing all their operating procedures there for the public to know?

Efficient services that satisfy a customer work both ways - the customer knowing what to do and the service provider providing efficient service. Dear government departments, help us to help you. Have clear procedures and easily available information.

Everyone is talking about the increase in crime rates. You decide for yourself based on what I wrote above. Snatch thefts and house break-ins have gone down in priority. Don't forget, these lead to bigger things. Further to that, no crime is too small. I think we Malaysians will feel safer if all these ‘small’ crimes are tackled.

We have a lot of campaigns and publicity on efficiency, fighting crime, caring society, etc. Do they actually have any effect? Or is the money better spent elsewhere? Publicity won't give us assurance, it's the real deal that counts.

As they always say ‘action speaks louder than words’. Tackle the clear lack of standard operating procedures, the lack of communication between departments and the infamous tidak apa attitude.