Halfway...

It's half way through the holidays... I've read books, gone swimming, hung out and visited friends, did some spring cleaning, minus the usual hassle, just drifting along... Do not know whether I'll get down to painting some parts of the house next week although I've been toying with the idea. One thing that I enjoy doing quite a bit is read with my girl. We can spend half the morning (or night) sitting in the hall together reading our books. She's into Enid Blyton series now - Mallory Towers, Mr. Galliano's Circus and all that. I used to love that when I was her age. And I used to spend a good part of my holidays during my school days reading too...

Oh ya, we finally did a shopping trip together too, something which I have not done since school reopened early this year. Hardly go to the mall these days unless during our Penang forays, which have been few this year too. And guess what, undergarments cost fortune these days.... that which we wear hidden away from sight can cost a bomb... Inflation is everywhere! Even in undergarments! Told my girl that I'll go to the market stalls to look for her pants. Even with discounts things still cost a great deal more... How can people survive with the minimum wage that has been proposed? Money shrinking in value, rising costs in practically every thing.... Economy supposedly to have done okay for the past years.... But it seems very little is trickling back to us.

Oh ya! Police says the crime rate has gone down. I don't know whether their statistics are to be believed. In the past few weeks, I've been hearing so many cases of break ins, many of them in broad daylight and each attempt getting bolder. There was even one house where the robbers lifted the gates and drove the car away. And on another day, in one area, 3 break ins occured! One of my friend's house was broken into too. And she had only gone for dinner. The robbers would stalk the neighbourhoods, it seems, and strike when the houseowners leave their homes. Where is the police when there are real crimes to be combated?

And then the attempted kidnapping and rape incident at The Curve recently. As the link reported, the attempted kidnapping has since been followed by a robbery. Good thing the young lady kept her cool. Our authorities cannot seem to ensure security so that we can just live our lives. And I read of a robbery where the robber drove away with a 4 month old baby in Batu Pahat. She has since turned up dead. Senseless!!!! If crime rate is down, why so many crimes? In Jitra, a spate of break ins have been happening like clockwork the last few weeks. I asked my friend whose area has been hardest hit by the break ins whether there has been an increase in police presence since the spike in the number of break ins. She said no. The modus operandi seems to be like the above... they return to the scene of the crime. They stalk the area. Residents in some areas have seen suspicious cars and when they call the police station to check the number plates, the cars are stolen. Why aren't the police 'stalking' areas which have been regularly hit? Where are they? Have the police too become like many of our civil service branches?

Halfway too, I read that Peter John Jaban, of Radio Free Sarawak was 'abducted' by 3 unidentified men in Sarawak. His radio call name is Papa Orang Utan. I tuned in to him once or twice long ago. He was with 2 other men, his lawyers at the time of his abduction. At the time of this writing, there has been no news of him. Would the fate of Bruno Manser befall him too? Jaban's 'disapprearance' most probably is politically linked since he is on the Sarawak CM's list of wanted men, for exposing too many things. People get bundled away and become incommunicado for known and unknown reasons. (Latest reports indicate that Jaban might have engineered his 'abduction' out of fear - 2nd June)

So halfway through the hols, my little world gets jolted by the culmination of crime news... cos I realized that it's definitely no longer safe to allow our childen to go out and play on the streets without close supervision... And even with supervision, abduction still happens.

1st June marks the introduction of the Evidence Act 2012, one wonders why a legislation to silence people. But I feel, lies will eventually be seen as they are. Truth will eventually prevail.

It's amazing too to note that most of the Opposition leaders seem to be embroiled in one controversy or charges while the ones on the opposite side of the bench seem to be exonerated for most charges. Or why the privileged continues to be privileged while the rest continue to pay more for everything. I just got a new set of wheels too and it cost so much when the actual price is so much lower.... but that is another ranting for another day.

And finally, after so many years of being a faithful The Star newspaper subscriber, Other Half and I decided to stop subscription. Found its silence on many issues rather deafening these days. So even though they have an online version which I can read on the iPad (and cheaper), it wasn't enough for us to take a bite. We would have stopped earlier if not for our delivery man.

Disturbed, concerned.... Are we breaking apart at our seams? Is this the transformation promised to us?