Snatch Theft

Karangan snatch thief ni especially dikarang untuk Izan yang nak bagi public speaking. Orang yang namanya bukan Izan, sila jangan baca. Tapi kalau korang nak buang masa baca jugak, silakan la..

INTRODUCTION

One fine evening, I was walking along the road to meet a friend over a cup of tea. It was still daylight, and the road was not dark. Typical me, I was wearing a baju kurung, with a high heels, holding a handbag on my left hand, swinging it to and fro, feeling very happy to meet my friend. I was not expecting anything bad to happen to me at that time. At the end of the junction, I already noticed that there was a motorcyclist stopped there, with full faced helmet, as if waiting for someone. I thought this man means no harm. When I came very near to him, he grabbed my handbag using his left hand, while he was using his right hand to hold on to the motorcyle handle. Within that millisecond, it never cross my mind why would that man wants to take away my handbag. I was devastated. In fact I could not utter any words and become speechless! It took me quite a while to realise that I was a snatch theft victim. Within that few minutes, I tried to pulled back the handbag but he was quite strong. I felt that the handbag slipped through my hand and fell to the ground. There was a sharp pain on both knees and right elbow. I thought to myself "Alamak! Habis la aku!" There was a middle age Chinese man who saw the incident and he screamed. When the motorcyclist heard the man screamed, he was a bit shocked he almost fell to the ground while at the same time trying to balance his position on the motorbike. The motorcyclist sped away and left. I didnt even acknowledge the motorbike plate number. The Chinese man came to me and gave back my handbag. He helped me clean the abrasion wounds on both knees and elbow, while the on-lookers just passed by and asked me whether I was okay. This incident happened to me 3 years ago but the memory still lingers on.

BODY

Why I choose the topic of snatch theft? First of all, this has happened to me and I don't want the same thing to happen to you especially the ladies. Once bitten, twice shy. It was a traumatic experience and I don't want to go through the same experience again. As the Malays proverb, don't let the bananas harvested twice.

Let us see what are the factors that made someone vulnerable to snatch theft.

It can happen to anybody, be it man or woman. But woman is more vulnerable since they were considered as the weaker species compared to man.

It can happen in broad day light, or at night. But of course, it is more dangerous to walk along the dim area compared to a well-lighted area where people can easily see you and you can attract the attention of others and scream for help, that is if you can scream at that time. Many times, the passerby may help you. If not, they might just interested to know and may not be helpful at all.

If you have pepper spray, it may help you. An ringing alarm may alert the passer by.

About the dress that the person wore: those wearing baju kurung with high heels or any type of heavily dressed person is more likely to attract the attention of snatch thief, compared to those who wear sneakers since a heavily dressed person is more likely to fall and become helpless compared those dressed to run.

The way you hold on to your belongings are also important. If you swing your handbag to and fro, it shows that you hardly expect it to be pulled away from you. If you keep your handbag close to you body, it will be a bit difficult to retract it from you.

If you practise martial arts, that will be an advantage. A smack on the face or vital area (eg genital, chest, abdomen) perhaps may brought pain to the thief, if not, maybe torsion of the testis...

If you can manage to get the number of the motorbike, you may want to lodge a police report. It''s true, the police may not be able to locate your lost handbag, but at least the authorities may help by having regular presence at that spots and scare the snatch thief.

ENDING

Snatch theft can occurs anywhere, anytime, daylight or nighttime. It can happens to anybody, be it young or old, no matter if you are rag or rich.

Dah, aku tak tau la Izan. Ko pande pande le tambah sendiri ending dia...