One of the unfortunate things that Malaysia is famous for is its crime rate.
This is a fact that is confirmed by a study by Numbeo.com which names Malaysia as the country with the highest crime rate in the entire Southeast Asia.
When we break it down into cities, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur take the top two spots, followed by Manila in the Philippines.
In fact, 4 Malaysian cities are in the Top 10, more than for any other Southeast Asian country. In addition to Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru and Kota Kinabalu are also on the list.
Unsurprisingly, our neighbour Singapore takes last place in SEA, while they are comfortably perched at the second last place in the world rankings. Contrast this to Malaysia which is number 15 in the world rankings. This is out of 118 countries around the world.
It is not a thing of pride to be ranked just below third world African and Asian countries, a few of which are legitimate war zones.
We are famous for snatch thefts by thugs on foot or motorbikes, which occur frequently at all hours and in public spaces with lots of witnesses. Victims include locals and expatriates in upscale areas, women with children and even men walking/jogging alone.
Other crimes that are so prevalent as to be highlighted include crime by taxi drivers against locals and foreign tourists, credit card fraud, residential break-ins and prostitution. Pick pockets and scam artists can be found readily on the streets of Kuala Lumpur and besides these petty crimes, serious crimes involving physical violence, murder, rapes, and robberies are also commonly reported in the city.
This is made worse by the fact that there aren’t really many measures to curb these threats.
Police do launch operations every now and then, especially pertaining drug seizures and terrorism activities, but there is little to nothing done about break ins, scams or snatch thieves some of whom seriously injure their victims.
Malaysia on the surface, IS a peaceful country. But trouble can be found on the streets daily.