Police Reports and Flood Victims

I think I can count on one hand the number of times I've stepped into a police station. Anyway, word was going around that Najib said the government is giving some cash aid to all flood victims. Many of us decided to go... after all, in all my years, I've hardly been given any special aid.

So, off we went, us three ladies. When we arrived at the One Stop Centre at the Police HQ, the place was swarming with flood victims.

We duly took our places in the line and waited... waited and waited. By the time we were done, 3 1/2 hours had passed. I cannot believe how inefficient how police is. Computers didn't help them speed up their jobs. In fact, it slowed them down markedly. Writing would have been faster!!!

Obviously there are tens of thousands of flood victims. A simple form for us to fill would have suffice. They can always check the area... flood waters are not illusive like criminals. They can always check. In my time there, I had ample time to observe the going ons.

For one, all the police banners with words like Mesra, Cekap... are crap! Though they are overworked, natural disasters like this don't happen everyday. There was one Sarjan who closed his counter at 4.30 p.m. citing computer failure. And over the period of the next few hours, I noticed that their computers kept hanging... holding up the reports. The same Sarjan also said in a rather arrogant voice that we could make reports in any police station. Another crap cos we had just come from the police station near our place and were told to go to the main one.

There was an old lady with a walking cane in the line when he closed his counter... where was his compassion??? Obviously he must be thinking that serving an old lady doesn't add up his pahala.

Oh ya! How many police officers do you think are needed to change a printer cartridge??? Two!!! And their computer system must be really archaic cos it kept hanging. I wonder who they contracted to write their software and supply the hardware. How can the police force's frontline equipment be so fragile and break down so easily at even a crisis like a flood. Would it then be able to cope if something bigger were to happen?

Most if not all us have been going days without proper sleep and food. Making us wait for such a long time to make one report just shows how inept the police is. Add that to the fact that the reports had to be typed and most of the officers typed painfully slow, the whole process certainly showed their ineptness. All police officers should go for typing classes!!

A report which can be done in 5 minutes needed 10-15 minutes with one finger typing!!! And the One Stop Centre felt more like an oven. The air-condition just couldn't cope. So, like its personnels, the equipment too floundered along! Nice banners they had, with smiling police officers as their poster boys and girls. But when it came to real service, they certainly didn't seem to match up to those smiling and seemingly cekap poster officers. Like many things Malaysian... indah khabar dari rupa. Looks good on the outside but no substance!

And the way the lines of crowds were organized. There were no officers to direct the people. They had one row for those above 60 years old, another row for those above 70 years old and one more for those not in the said categories. Guess who got to sit down while waiting????

The last group!!! No brainer and certainly not prihatin. So while we sat, the aged hobbled and hung on to their canes, standing on their weary legs.

The police got their pay raise quite recently... I am beginning to think that they don't quite deserve it, seeing the way they got the reports done. Anyway, all throughout the flood, I didn't really see any police... I heard the sirens of their cars, though. Their presence weren't really felt.

Sitting there and watching the police officers at work and seeing some unpleasant, possibly race-related actions make Najib's 1Malaysia sound hollow and fake! Add that to the racist actions of the rescue workers during the flood who have been selective in the distribution of aid like food and water and also rescue efforts... I'd say UMNO has succeeded in dividing Malaysians into Melayu, China, India and Lain-Lain. 1Malaysia is only a political gimmick! We are more divided than before; and the most insidious thing is our authorities can no longer be depended to be fair and compassionate in the truest sense. Everything is tainted... sad thing indeed for Malaysia.