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Thursday January 11, 2007

The line must be drawn HERE

COMMENT BY DAVIN ARUL

In this new fortnightly column, DAVIN ARUL will look at the unreality of some very real things in our midst through his special pair of pop culture-tinted glasses.

KIRK or Picard? I’m a Kirk fan, and not just because I grew up with Classic Star Trek. I have always preferred the man’s two-fisted, bull-by-the-horns approach to interstellar diplomacy over his (eventual) successor’s negotiate-first-and-try-not-to-shoot style.

Plus, James T. Kirk got all the hot green chicks.

But wait – there was one moment when The Next Generation’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard shook off the negotiator’s cloak and stunned everyone with his fanatical single-mindedness.

Faced with the prospect of a victory by the robotic, soulless Borg in Star Trek: First Contact, Picard snapped at his comrades with Ahab-like frenzy: “The line must be drawn HERE!” (Or, the way he said it, “HEAH!”) It was a truly defining, or rather re-defining, moment for the character.

I wish, oh how I dearly wish, that such zeal would one day manifest itself in the hearts, minds and souls of the people tasked with maintaining law and order in our land. How do I know that it hasn’t yet? Because we still hear far too many stories about senseless acts of criminal violence being perpetrated upon innocent citizens.

Not content with grabbing purses and bags, or perhaps because more street-smart people have taken to guarding their possessions better, the petty crooks these days have taken to slashing or hitting (often with crash helmets) their victims as a pre-emptive strike before robbing them.

Barely into the New Year, we read a story about a robber in the Klang Valley firing off a gun because he was unhappy with his meagre haul (The Star, Jan 4).

That same day, we read about a toddler who was abducted because the men who robbed her mother were dissatisfied with their loot.

Fortunately, the little girl was found and reunited with her parents.

And of course there was the truly lamentable incident where the Klang Municipal Council health director had to resign out of fear for his life and his family’s safety.

So now, in effect, thugs have a say in the composition of our local councils. No smart comments, you there in the back.

But we can’t blame the man for putting his family’s safety first. Nor can we fault the victims of assault and robbery for taking better care of their possessions. And as much as we like to dream of Utopian worlds, we can never hope for a crime-free society in reality.

What we can ask for – nay, demand – instead is an environment where it is the CRIMINALS, and not the people, who live in fear.

Where it’s the crooks that are constantly looking over their shoulder, that dare not step outside of their den, that cannot sleep soundly at night, and that wet their pants whenever they hear a motorcycle engine. (I refrained from using “who” in the previous sentence so as not to humanise them too much.)

It is not so hard to achieve.

It takes many things, but we can start with:

  • More visible police patrols;

  • Harsher punishment for offenders (and we mean harsh – snatch theft could be attempted murder);

  • More concern for our fellow citizens (you in the back, pay attention);

    Our citizens realising that crime prevention is everyone’s responsibility;

  • Neighbours watching out for one another – please, out of all the houses in front, beside and behind yours, surely you can find one neighbour to have a “buddy system” of sorts with;

  • Leaders who get angry instead of sad over crime news; and

  • Other leaders getting angry at the crooks for committing the crime, instead of at the victims for being victims or at the press for publishing the stories.

    I don’t know about you, but I think that the last two items, where emotions are properly focused and channelled, can be a very powerful force to galvanise all the country’s crime-fighting machinery into overdrive.

    So please, all those of you who can do something about it ? find your emotional centre, roll that rage into a tight ball, and snarl it at your subordinates: “The line must be drawn HERE!”

    And if you don’t watch Star Trek, just imagine Samuel L. Jackson saying it in his own inimitable way. Because that’s how the rest of us want to tell it to you.

  • Davin Arul, vice-president of the I.Star Division which manages and develops The Star Online, has covered technology, lifestyle and pop culture for The Star for more than 20 years.
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