Sad news - monther and daughter perishes in fire

I read with great sadness that a mother and her daughter perished in a fire in Melaka. According to The Star, the fire started in the kitchen. There was a huge explosion, and lots of smoke. The poor neighbour could not help, despite trying hard to. I do feel sorry for the neighbour too - imagine that helplessness feeling.

Again, I wish to recommend to fellow Malaysians - please install a smoke alarm in your home. The first sign of fire has to be smoke. Yes, it is troublesome - you need to install it, test it and change the batteries yearly. It's a price worth paying for - to protect our loved ones. It is not a 100% sure way, but just like seat belts, it has been proven to be very effective.

Make sure rooms are equipped with emergency escape openings on the grills. Most modern window grills will have it. Unfortunately, older grills won't have it.

If you must break a window grill, use a car jack - the tool to lift up your car to change the tires. Typically, car jacks can lift up to 600kg of force. Use it to break the window grills. I believe most grills will break, or at least bend sufficiently, for escape.

Lastly - please don't be a hero or an asshole by illegally setting up barriers. This is the last paragraph of The Star's report:

A Federal Territory Fire and Rescue Department spokesman said they received a distress call at around 6.11am.

“However, we could not pass the barrier at the unmanned security checkpoint of the residential area.

“Precious minutes were lost as we had to cut off the chains to proceed to the burning house,” he said, adding that by the time the firemen reached the place, about 80% of the house was burnt and the roof had collapsed.

The bodies of the victims have been sent to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital for a post-mortem.

If your housing area has not been designed for gated, please do not gate it. It is of no help. To prevent house break-ins, burglar alarm and guards are the way to go. Again - more troublesome but very effective and safer.

Between safety and security - always remember, safety comes first. Here, the victims were stumped by window grills and an illegal barrier. In the minds of Malaysia, safety is definitely not the first.

Kidnapped your Wife

I cannot remember if I have blogged this or not. One day, my uncle got a phone call. He is a lawyer and to say the least - rich.

The caller immediately said they got his wife. In the background, there was a lady screaming and crying for help. They knew my uncle's surname - calling him by his surname.

So, what did my uncle do? The caller made a ransom demand - of a large amount of money. My uncle's response " You mean, I have to pay you RM 1 million to release my wife? OK la.... I double it to RM 2 million... but don't release her. Ok?"

That was the end of the conversation. And no, my aunt was actually doing something else safely. No one kidnapped her.

Simple Rules Against Scams

Many scams are going on. All with different flavours. I cannot possible blog about every known scam - but let's face it. It is easy to prevent scams. Just a few simple rules.

1. If it is too good to be true, it is.
2. Never ever disclose your user name and password to any third party. No one credible will ask you for it. Banks must know you. Google must know you. If they do not know you, they are not from the bank or credit card centre, or whatever.
3. Unless you call your bank based on the phone number behind your credit card, do NOT give out your credit card number.
4. If someone asks you to do stupid stuff - like turn of your phone, install a software - do not do it. It's probably a scam.
5. Speak to them in Bahasa Malaysia. Scams are often carried out by foreigners. They cannot speak our national language.

If you are unsure that to do - it's easy. Just delay it. Tell them, please call me back in two hours. That's all. You then have two hours to think about it, talk to your friends or family, and relax. That way, you will make a better decision.

It's the same even when someone calls you to say they have kidnapped your loved one. Tell them you will be ready to negotiate in two hours. If it is for a ransom of a million dollars, they will wait for days if they have to. Who the heck gets paid say a million dollars or 3 days' work? And real kidnappers will keep the hostages a life and unhurt. Hostages are only valuable to kidnappers when they are alive.

So, remember - if you get an unsolicited call asking for something weird, just ask them to call back in 2 hours or 24 hours.

Security or Safety?

Tough call when it comes to security or safety. Ideally, we want both. Was approached by a salesman recently - to upgrade the tint on my car with a secure tint. Apparently, it is very difficult to break - hence security.

My immediate thought - why happens if there is an accident and I need help? The secure tint might not be good. People might not be able to reach me. Then again, if the Fire Department can cut thru metal, they should not have problems with the tint.

Difficult to say is the tint good, but I am not installing it - but that's more for financial reasons!

Let there be light...

Emergency lighting at home is a matter of life and death. Imagine a fire and the power is out. This is even more critical if you stay in a high-rise building. Let's say, still no smoke. But you do not have a torchlight. Mobile phone can provide limited lights. Try this at home. Completely blackout the place (and close the curtains too! This is to simulate a total black-out when there is no moon).

Do it when you are in the bedroom. Let's see how long do you take to find your house keys and have the front door opened. Mind you, it can be dangerous. Stairs are a hazard and you can trip over a large variety of items. Nevertheless, it is a good practice, in case of fire or a disaster.

In general, I have a Maglite Torchlight with me. Usually in my backpack - so, it is with me when I work, when I drive, when I travel. I own a small AA cell type - good enough. Why I like Maglite? It is very hardy? I've sent it flying down one floor before, by accident and it survived. It has a spare light-bulb. It is very bright. It is reliable. The cheap ones are not so reliable. Too bad, Maglite cost a fair bit. And no, they will not float, but I suspect they will have some that will.

Having a torchlight alone won't do well. It needs batteries. Test them and have them replaced often. I found a reliable batter to be Panasonic's Alkaline Battery. Duracell and Energizer leaks very often - from my observation. I have no idea why. They use to be good - almost never to leak, but lately, it's just bad. And they start to leak at least 2 years or 3 years before expiry!

Another item I am planning to invest in - emergency light. Cost about RM 80 each. They will automatically come on when the power fails. Very useful when things go wrong.

What works?

Now that I've complained enough about what doesn't work for a gated community, what works?

Believe it or not, the answer can be found in the book "Freakonomics". They've found crime rate is highly correlated to abortion. I do not advocate abortion, but it does reach a conclusion - good family values reduces crime rate. If there is more loving care, parents are more ready for kids, the kids will grow up better. So, what can we do? My suggestion is do more charity work. It could be the orphanages, or work with problematic (as in discipline) kids. As usual, some kindness will go a long way. Speaking of kindness, I use to randomly pay toll (before I used SmartTag and way before toll rates were increased) for the car behind me. You sure get a lot of puzzled looks, but it is fun.

Another sure way, proven, of lowering crime is police numbers. The more police, the better. Crime prevention, crime deterrent and spend a lot of time solving criminal cases. If the criminals know they have a hard time getting away, they will really think twice. And putting them quickly behind bars will also help. Again, this is explained in Freakonomics.

The other policy is "Zero Broken Windows". The story is from urban areas, like cities. Windows are usually broken due to vandalism. That's how crime start. Today, someone breaks a window. Then, the notice that no one repairs the windows and certainly no one cares to catch them. So, they move on to more serious crime. As a community, we have to start with ourselves - make darn sure we do not flout the law, like parking illegally. If cars are parked illegal in our own housing area, what message does this give the others?

On the same note, even if it is a small crime, like a broken window, we must report it to the police. We must show that we care. And yes, we have to help the police solve the case. Those responsible for minor offences must be given the message "the law will get you". In here, it can be something small like a bunch of teenagers letting of fireworks in the field. It happened. And yes, I did call the police. The kids won't be jailed. They will just be warned. But that's the idea... if you do something silly, someone cares and the police will know.

So, if you really want to reduce crime rate, make sure you lobby for better police presence and please report all crime. If a police station is giving you trouble in Malaysia, the solution is very easy. Just send a fax to Bukit Aman - the headquarters. Bukit Aman is very serious, but they need information from the public. You will find that the police station in question will have new officers very soon.

Verification

Gosh. I am hopelessly sleepy now, despite the fact that it is 9am. Awaiting to go to the post office to try to invest more in Amanah Saham Wawasan 2020. A good deal, but darn hard to get.

Anyway, on the subject of a gated community, let's assume all is well, no protest. There is still one key element - a critical success factor. Verification. It has happened to me countless times. Each time I try to enter a condo, I will just mumble some names to the guards, and a unit number. Mr. Wong, Block C, will do. I mean, Mr. Wong is just as common as Mike or Dave in London. Because there is no way to verify the truth, the guards will just let me in.

The best I've done so far - I told the guards I would be picking up my friend, female naturally, from Unit B-17-5. Honestly, I didn't remember her unit number. I was unable to contact my friend to verify her unit number. Couldn't remember if it was floor 7 or 17. But B-17-5 worked. The guards allowed me in. When I met my friend much later, it was discovered that she was on the 7th floor. The part that boggles my mind - 17th floor does not exist. The highest floor is only 12th. Speaks volumes on the security provided.

So, if someone must set-up a gated community, please, for crying out loud - have a verification system. There must be a way to verify with the occupants if they are expecting visitors. This is indeed very difficult. There are privacy issues - I might not want my 18 year old friend-with-benefit being asked to many questions. On the same note, it is equally difficult to contact residents, and expensive too!

In short, gated communities have little chance to be extremely effective. It is a just a very poor attempt at security. Most of it are nothing more than a dog and pony show. Some will argue - but with guards taking down details, it must work. Yeah right. Think about it. Can the guards tell the difference between a genuine and fake or tempered ID? I am an expert on subject matter and I have difficulties. What makes us think the vehicle registration plates will be genuine? Or could it be a stolen vehicle? Yet again, there is no way to verify.

The mind boggles at the conventional logic, or lack of, people apply. All in all, IMHO, gated communities are nothing but a bloody nuisance - both to the residents and the criminals.

Alarms

Home alarm systems are key to preventing crime. They will be the first system to alert you if anything goes wrong. However, it is only good if it is turned on. So, if you have one, please turn it on. It doesn't cost extra. Turn it on when you are out of the house, when you go to bed or when you have no intention of going out of the house for the next couple of hours - e.g. when you are having a romantic time in bed with your gf.

To select an alarm system is difficult. Chubb Malaysia used to provide some good ones, but rumors have it that they are no longer that good. The house alarm industry is a cowboy industry. Prices are cut, quality takes a dip. Bad systems are useless. They will have so many false alarm - crying wolf all the time, you just give it up. Criminals know that too!

Some critical success factors for home alarm systems:

1. When it comes to wiring, make darn sure the wire between the panel to the sensor is one piece. Never allow the contractor to join wires. Imagine, after plastering the wires inside the walls, the joining breaks. You will have a hell time finding the fault and fixing it. Wiring is the most critical. If the panel is bad, change it - it is easy. If the sensors are bad, have them replaced. But you don't want to re-do the whole damn wiring.
   
   
2. Ensure each cable is properly labelled. Else, no one knows what goes where after a year.
   
   
3. Better still, have the wiring inside a plastic conduit, or pipe. This is very expensive, but can be worth it.
   
   
4. There are motion detectors, or infra red sensors. Use them only for the roof / ceiling. For fuck-sake, please do not put it in the kitchen or living room. It will trigger tonnes of false alarm. You may also wish to turn on the alarm when you are cooking. No harm!
   
   
5. Most suppliers no longer provide good vibration sensors because they are very expensive. Look for one that does. Vibration sensors are good to protect windows, especially when the sensors are installed on grills. Any knocking or drilling will set them off. This way, you can leave the windows open for fresh air - but please shut them if no one is at home.
   
   
6. Ensure that the magnetic switches installed on doors are good. How to tell a good sensor? Quality ones will usually have CE, FCC or even UL approval. CE is a standard mainly for safety and emission of RF noise in Europe. FCC would be emission of RF noise for USA. UL would be the safety standard for USA. You get the idea. A sensor without any compliance to standards cannot be good!
   
   
7. Check if the main panel itself has any certification / compliance to standards.
   
   
8. System should have one internal and one external siren; and one external strobe light. For the sirens, have a switch - inside the panel. If you are at home, at night, you may not wish to have the internal siren on (but leave the external siren on) and scare the daylights out of you if it goes off. Similarly, if you are away for a long period of time - say a week, turn the external siren off but leave the internal siren on. Don't bugger your neighbour's Chinese New Year, for example.
   
   
9. Ensure that the system has two panic buttons. Press it, alarm should go off. One in the master bedroom, the other in the kitchen is usually good. Same goes for the keypad - there should be two. Panic button can be and should be located away from the keypads. Keypads themselves should have a panic button. The panic button should have a key - that is, once activated, you need a key to deactivate it.
   
   
10. Alarms usually have CMS feature - that is, it calls a Central Monitoring System if something happens. If you do not subscribe to CMS (since most of them is bullshit anyway), have the panel programmed to call you handphone instead. So, if there is no one home and your house calls you, at least you have a clue what has happened. You can then alert your local guards. That's what the guards are for, not for doing sentry duty and looking at cars driving in and out.
    
    
11. When the system is designed, think like a criminal. Where would you break in? How? Then, secure those areas with sensors.

Another very important note. If your alarms, car or house, keeps going off without rhyme or reason - be on the alert. You could be already targetted. Criminals are known to trigger the alarm off - e.g., kick your car to cause it to vibrate - some cars can sense vibration. They keep doing it until you are fed-up and turn off the alarm. Never ever turn off the alarm!

Let me know if you have any other suggestions. I am rather sure I have missed out one or two critical items.

Lights

Oh boy. Spending the whole night blogging isn't doing much good to my beauty sleep. Hope I am not to tired when I meet H later. That would be a waste.

Visibility is a key factor in crime prevention. It's a fact that turning on lights at night prevents crime. It is cheap, yet very effective.

But, there's something you must remember - do not give the criminals any information. For example, if you only turn on the lights when no one is at home, that's a dead give away. So, do turn on the same lights even if you are at home. Worried about the waste of energy? Install and use a energy saving light bulb. They use less than 10W of power. In Malaysia, if it is 10W, it will be turning it for 100 hours before it will cost RM 0.30 (USD 0.08). It's a bargain.

When you leave the house, remember to deliberately leave one room light on, or the kitchen lights on. Give the impression that there is someone inside the house.

Hope it helps. And if you must know, yes, I do it.

Show of Force

OK. Back to the problem of Jeff. Besides providing proper toilets, what else is a more effective use of guards? The first is, carry out a show of force. This was successfully carried out by British soldiers in Somalia. Every morning, they would put a good show - marching, fire some shots and fire some big guns into the sea. Make hell a lot of noise. And it was effective. Prison guards do that. FRU (Federal Reserve Unit - the Malaysian anti-riot police) do that. They do? Yes - they march by stomping their boots. Beat their shields with their batons. Shout when they march.

So, if you have guards, do the same. Make them march. Do a roll call every morning. Get the police to show up occasionally during such 'parades'. Frankly, it is just a physiological thingy. I am not advocating for an armed force of private guards.

Residents can do their own show of force. In UK, they have the Orange Hat Patrol - the Malaysian Rukun Tetangga (RT). RT works well. A group of residents, on schedule, would petrol the place. This shows unity. Think about it - I am sure we all know. When driving through a kampung, the pre- PLUS highway days, always go slow. If you happen to accidentally run-over a chicken, do not stop. Why? Because we all 'fear' that the united kampung folks will beat us up.

In reality, the same 'fear' can be used against criminals. The community needs to be united. That's the key. Show them that we are united. That's why you never hear of crimes in kampungs. True - criminals caught will be bashed up. I do not advocate vigilantism. But facts are facts. So, we need to do it in urban areas - that is be united, not bashing up people.

Start a RT - and patrol in bright orange hats. Why the orange hats? It is some kind of uniform and yes, it is highly visible. You want to be seen at night, for safety.

Another method - imagine the scene if at night, everyone turns on the light - odd numbered houses with their front lights on, even numbered houses lighting up the backlanes. That would be a sight to behold. Residence uniting and that's a good show of force. The message will be - try and you will be sorry. Right now, the one or two guards does patrol in this area, but since most areas are pitch black, I am unsure if the guards are equiped with night vision for the task. Oops - another idea for Jeff to spend more money.

Another very simple show of force - how do we interact as neighbours. If everyone knows everyone, greets each other, talks to each other - that means we are united. It sends the same message. Trust me, the criminals would be watching.

Isn't this better than a few oil drums and residences are seen fighting with each other? Show of force, either by guards or residences, are perfectly legal (blockin up public roads are not) and guess what - "Hello. How do you do?" is free. Time to love thy neighbour - no, no, not in the 'hamsap' sense.

Under Attack!

The worst that can happen is someone breaking in when you or your family is at home. This is especially so when they are foreigners / illegal immigrants. Or some violent psycho.

But should that happen, and if you deem it safe - the first thing you do is to sound the home alarm system, if you have one. Also, press the panic button for your car alarm. Let your cars make as much noise as possible. Turn on all the lights. Call the police. Call your neighbours. Shout for help. Lock yourself in a room - it helps if your room has a solid door.

I sure hope it never comes to this. The house has many weapons. Putting toilet cleaner and splashing it on someone can lead to blindness. Your usual aerosol spray - such as the trusted Shieldtox - is a good flame thrower. Light up the spray with a lighter (careful! It can burn you.) and it will throw out flames. Will it explode? No. The flames will not go back into the can and cause it to explode. There is little to no oxygen inside the can - thus, it cannot burn and explode. Don't overheat the can though - that will cause it to explode! And please note - it only works on the NON water based type. If it is water-based, it won't burn. Please note.

Something to note - even if you lock yourself in your room, there is a chance they will force you out by setting the place on fire, for example. The whole idea is, buy yourself enough time for help to arrive. So, if you so wish to, call the fire department as well.

Some of these are dangerous but everything goes when the situation is 'in extremis'.

Another safety note, not related to security - never ever mix bleach (such as Clorox) with other cleaning agent (such as detergent). The reaction can be violent and it releases a lot of clorin gas - which is toxic. A joker of my friend made that mistake when he was cleaning the loo. Bugger. Not to worry, he lived to tell the tale.

Ring Ring

After knock knock, it is only natural to think about ring ring.

The policy here is the same. To commit a crime, information is important. So, limit the amount of information you give the criminals.

For the same reason as turning off the bell when no one is at home, you should be very prudent with who gets your house phone number. If they cannot ring the bell, they will call you. That's actually better - they won't have to bother showing up to ring the bell.

How often do we give out the house phone number when we buy a new air-cond? Or when buying a new plasma TV? Or like some idiots in this area, publish their home phone numbers on the community blog, together with their photo and address? Sometimes, we do it without even thinking about it.

So, as much as possible, do NOT give out your home phone number to strangers. Use your cell phone / mobile number instead. It is hard to figure out where you are when you answer your mobile - unless the background noise is like the fish market. But that will at least give the criminals a run for their money.

If you are really careful, get either call forwarding or an answering machine. That way, even for those with your number cannot get much info out of you. Just forward calls to your mobile phone. Or have a machine, with a sexy welcoming message, answer it!

Knock Knock...anyone home?

So, enough bitching about dummy Jeff. How do we make our place safer?

And knock knock won't be a dirty joke like:
Knock knock.
Hang on dear... I am cumming.

Hehehe. Ok, I could not resist that.

When there is no one at home, please turn off the bell. It is fairly usual SOP (standard operating procedure, some call it MO - modus operandi) for the criminals to send someone round to check if anyone is home. The criminals usually call up a fast-food delivery service and sends a fake order to your house. If they observe no one answers the bell, that would usually mean the coast is clear. Some would just ring the bell before they break-in. So, turn the bell off when no one is at home. The downside is, remember to turn it back on! Else, your visitors or the postman might be pissed.

How to turn it off? Check the fuse box - there is usually one fuse for the bell. Try the fuses till you get one that turns the bell off. It will usually be a low-amperage fuse - e.g., fuse of about 5A. The fuse should be only for the bell. If you find it, and turn it off, make sure it doesn't affect any other appliances - such as the fridge. You don't want a warm fridge when you get home. If you cannot find the fuse, just get a wire-man and add an additional fuse to the bell. Easy! Cost some money, but hey - it does work.

So, if you start receiving pizzas that you didn't order - be on the alert. You are already targeted. Inform the police. Tell your neighbors.

The Moving Barricades

After about 3 weeks of starting this gated community thingy, nothing much has improved. It does give a sense of being safer, but that's all. There has been very strong protest from disagreeing residents. Public has also complained that roads cannot be blocked. They are public roads! But alas, Jeff thinks he has the right to reclaim all the roads.

There was a robbery. After the gated community started. Came by bike, and robbed a group of friends. Guards didn't know about it. So, it is not all that well. Now, Jeff wants to fence up the whole place. I mean, eff - do you want your kids growing up in a prison?

Comments vary. Jeff keeps telling everyone that if there is no gates and guards, your family could be next. So, someone asks him - if there are guards and gates, would he guarantee that nothing will happen? Jeff calls them unreasonable.

More critically, there are serious shortcomings. Firstly, it is close to impossible from stopping motorcycles from zooming in and out. Snatch thieves are usually on bikes. Then, this area has about 4 or 5 entrances / exits, after blocking up half of them! This means that the six guards employed are tied up with sentry duty. No more guards on patrol. So, even if there is a fence - just climb it, or cut it, and you are free to break-into houses.

Then we started noticing a more serious problem. Imagine this as a housing area. Where on earth are the guards suppose to go to, when they need to go? Yup - they need to walk all the way to the shops - thus leaving their 'checkpoints'. The irony of this place is, they need to go to the shops that Jeff has openly declared that the shops are not part of our community.

What happens when it rains? The lack of proper shelter puts everything to a stop. Some guards have just an umbrella, others have a hut. Either way, that's not enough shelter to continue to verify vehicles into the area. So, it fails, yet again.

Oh, being Jeff - there is still no statement of accounts, no telling who are the signatories to the bank account and still no clue how many is actually against this idea. I am all for a safer community, but for fuck-sake, please do something that works. This is just too "Barisan National" for me. Another resident has commented - if you think a bunch of disused oil drums (the barricades) and a bunch of foreign workers (the guards) can actually make the place safer, think again.

Another matter - if you need to use oil drums to barricade a place, please make sure they don't collect rain-water. Dengue is more deadly than snatch thieves. And imagine - this is a fairly well-to-do housing area - now barricaded with disuse oil drums. This bloody place looks like a scene from Somalia. So, please have some taste and have something proper.

Will CCTV help? Bugger, no. Remember the footage of the guy dumping poor Nurin's body? The entire act was captured on CCTV. Polis DiRaja Malaysia even sent it to the FBI. Alas, nothing came out of it. Why? Firstly, the image quality is bad. Just imagine, if you need about 150 dots per inch (dpi) for a person's face - what's the resolution you need for your CCTV covering an area about 5 meters by 5 meters? That would be about a 10 mega pixel image. Not many CCTV, (mind you - not a camera with a still image) has that resolution. How the eff are you going to store the images? And for a moment, let's say all the technology is there - someone could put on a helmet with a full visor and commit crime on a stolen bike. You try to beat that! As usual, Jeff now wants CCTV.

The part I cannot understand is, instead of educating the public, instead of teaching your kids to be streetwise, they decide to fence themselves in. What more, the measures don't even half work.

Car Jack

This is not an article about stealing cars. However, I sure as hell hope it doesn't educate would be thieves to break-into houses.

Most houses in Malaysia have metal grills on the windows, to make break-ins just a little more difficult. But really, grills are very easy to break. Some grills are well designed, sort of a door-like design, enabling the grills to be unlocked in the event of an emergency.

In any case, should there be a need to break a grill fast, use a car jack. That's the stuff you use to raise your car to change the tires. Car jacks can lift up to 200kg plus, easily. So, it can exert a very large force. It is very simple. Put the jack in between the two bars / grills. Then, start 'lifting'. Usually, this will cause the bars to break, if not it will open a large hole.

Car jacks could also be used to free someone trapped, e.g., leg pinned by a block of concrete. The word of caution is, the car jack is a good make-shift tool, great for emergencies lacking the proper tools. It will not be the best tool, and naturally, there is risk involved in using make-shift methods. Please get the experts such as the fire department to help first!

How to use your Autogate

I am aghast to see how some people use their autogates, i.e. - gates with remote control. Scary stuff that I've seen include: Gates wide open while some occupants are still getting into the car. Another scenario : car stops to open gate, kid jumps out of the car, gate opens, car drives in, mum gets out of car, yells at kid to get it, kid gets into the house compound, gate closes.

In the two scenarios above, there is ample time and opportunity for kidnap or robbery to happen. Why the eff let your kid jump out before the gates open? Someone could have made a grab for the kid. Why open the gates before you get into the car? Sounds silly too. But trust me, I see it every day when I drive to work.

I am unsure if mine SOP for autogate is the best, but here's something that sounds logical enough. To leave the house, I do the following:

1. Get into car.


2. Lock doors.


3. Start car.


4. Open autogate, drive out.


5. Ensure gate is closed properly before driving away.
   

When returning home, it is pretty much the opposite.

1. Drive in


2. Close gate


3. Turn of engine - ONLY after the gates have locked / closed.


4. Unlock car doors, and get out of car.
   

If, just if, anyone decides to rush in while the gates are opening, I will not hesitate to run him or her over. That's why I have my car ready to go when the gate is open. If someone rushes in, another good idea is to sound the horn. Make as much noise as possible. If so required, run him or her over. If their vehicle is in the way, too bad... reverse into it. Reverse gears have great gear ratio to push away obstacles.

You know, every so often, innocent people get run over in the driveway. Accidents do happen. Hint hint. Self defense is the great reason, especially if the guy or gal is wielding a baseball bat or a parang knife.

Drive safe. Learn how to use your autogate properly. If anyone has a better SOP, feel free to suggest. Hope this post can help make you just that little safer.

Cooking...

OK, the title is deceiving, but here's a little (ok ok... maybe more than one) advice.

If you have a gas cylinder / gas tank in the kitchen, for cooking use, my suggestion is chain it. Lock it. Make sure it cannot leave your kitchen easily. I hear you ask... what the eff for. Good question.

For burglars, it is now SOP (standard operating procedure) to break-in with minimum tools. They could be cost cutting too. Usually, one bugger will break-in via a window, toilet windows are good candidates. Once inside, he will make his way to the kitchen, if so required. Yup, if he has to breakdown a door, he will use the gas cylinder as a battering ram. It is ideal. It is heavy, but one man can handle it. It is very tough and yeah, every house (more or less) has at least one.

What doors might he breakdown? Well, at night, you pretty daughter could be asleep alone in her room, with the wooden, usually ply-wood door locked. At 3am, or so, someone breaks in, do you want them to see your daughter / wife (or maybe even a guy - they could be gay)? Your room door, in short, would be the last defence. So, don't provide the burlars with a free battering ram. Lock up your gas cylinders. Chain them. Secure the chain to an anchor / bolted down to the wall. Or chain up a few cylinders together. You should get the point now.

Yeah, if you can afford it, change the bloody ply-wood room doors to solid doors. As I've said, that's the last defence. Solid doors are better barrier against fire too. Think about it. Instead of paying some Bangla guards for half-baked gated community, we must take the initiative first.

PS: I sure hope this article doesn't educate some to-be thieves. But remember, it is a double edged sword. If you need to break down a door, for legit reasons - you know where to get a ram. Say, if your neighbour's house is on fire and you need to rescue his pet dog, use the gas cylinder to break the door, but don't leave the cylinder near the fire! You are duly warned!

Sitting Duck

One problem with amateurs like Jeff trying to come up with security policy is, they really have no clue what they are doing. In this aspect, Jeff is not alone. As they say, there are no shortage of idiots. What amazes me is, idiots refuse to listen to people with more experience. Trust me, I have try to do my part by posting on the community blog, but Jeff just censors them.

It is very common for cars to have "stickers" put on their windscreen. Stickers could be from their work place, some place for parking (such as season parking), their homes, their condominium or even some clubs, like golf clubs. The "stickers" are meant for the guards to allow these car some privileges, such as to enter a gated community.

That is all fine and well for the simple minded, but think about this for one moment. Just a moment. Do you want to tell everyone where you live? Hmmm. I am sure most of us would put up the sticker without even thinking twice. Nible2 has one, but I only put it up when I drive to work. Hell, I remove it when I wanna go to a club for a wild time.

Aha. Alarm bells ringing already? Good. It should be. If you go to a club, do a one night stand, do you really want the gal to know where you stay (more or less) or exactly where you work? Or what if you buy a huge plasma TV and Mid Valley and you load it in your car. Do you want to know tell everyone where this rich chap is staying? I do not think so. Or what if, you know government secrets? Or important trade secrets? Do you want to tell people you know it? Someone might plan to kidnap you or your family members. You know, as they say, some secrets are worth dying for... of course, the kidnappers don't plan to die. Just just plan to kill someone else until they get it. Even after they get it, they might kill someone to get rid of evidence.

What if you are a pretty gal, shopping in 1Utama. Some sickos decide to kidnap you or have his twisted ways with you? All of a sudden, just by looking at your car, they know where you stay, more or less. Or what if the mean guy in a SUV didn't like the way you changed lane along Federal Highway? You wanna let him know where you spend your time?

In short, there are many reasons and even more motive for someone to want to find out where you stay and work. So, why the eff advertise it on your car? Cannot narrow down to where you stay? Bullshit. Gated communities have very few entrance / exits, simple to reduce the cost of guarding them. This forces everyone to be routine. Routine - or being predictable - means you fall prey. All predator has to do is, wait for you right outside you guarded gates... and see where you call home.

Bet you never even thought what those car stickers can do. They can do you in big time. One can easily be a target for rapist, kidnap, espionage, or makes a hitman's life hell a lot easier. But what a layman overnight turned expert like Jeff know? Bet you he has never done any covert operations before.

The alternative...? Oh yes, if it must be gated, give the residence a RFID, long range, card. Card must not have any printing / identification marks. And to the very careful (some say paranoid), when not in use, this card should be kept in a shielded (metal, aluminium foil), envolope to prevent skimming. But that's another ball game... and trust me... I know the subject only too well!

So, if you have stickers advertising on where one can find you, think about it. Do remove it when you do not need it... Better be damn safe in this insane world.

Overnight Security Experts

I have been someone of an expert in the fields of security, working in a private agency, and yes, we work hand in hand with various governments. Yet, I have been extremely cautious in making recommendations. Things could o wrong so easily, when intentions are noble. That's why they say all roads to hell are paved with good intentions. How true.

One of my idiotic neighbours have decided that our area should be a gated community. Currently, it is public accessible, no common fence to separate our little community from the rest of the world. Each house have our own fence and gates, typical of most Malaysian house.

For gated community, the entire neighbourhood will have to form a residence's association, or RA for short. This must be registered with the government. Just paperwork, nothing too serious. Then, we, as neighbours will have to pay for the private security guards, plus the boom gates, plus whatever operating cost.

The worrying part is, this idiot, woke up one morning and appointed himself to be the champion of this. Suddenly, he becomes an expert in security for community. I mean, eff, he probably has not even done a day of law enforcement work. In any case, nothing has stopped this idiot. Let's call him Jeff.

Jeff manage to get some fools to form a committee. Well, we could all agree to that. RA is good. It's more or less free after all. Then, Jeff sends out a form to survey, to see how many supported the idea of a privately gated community. Then, the started pushing for support, really hard. Started collecting money. Some paid up. Jeff even started a blog for the community, but once again, Jeff appointed himself to censor the blog. Opposition to his fancy project were deleted, or not published. More propaganda on the blog.

In short, this Jeff of an idiot has been exactly like the good old BN government. RA has not been registered. So, we now have nothing short of an illegal association. He has started collecting money from the residence. Those not paying up will not get a car sticker. Guards will supposedly block access for those without stickers. He has illegally put up barriers on public road. Heck, this bloody mess is nothing less than gangsterism and collecting 'protection money'.

Anyway, more on Jeff and his idiotic ideas later.

Safety First

Well well, a short post. Terengganu Gov raised the issue - they wanted another car because of cost. But really, why hasn't anyone debated about safety. After all, it should be Safety First.

That's it. I wonder how safe are Proton cars. There is absolutely no emphasis on car safety in Malaysia. Proton Waja is one of the safest proton cars. But the results are at best, 3 star only - out of 5 stars. Ok, it is better than some China made cars, but really - after so many years in the industry - when will they do better? If the government is serious about road safety, lets force all cars, local and imported, to under-go crash tests. And PUBLISH the results. Now, I love to see that!

Some respond by saying that Malaysians not driving Protons are unpatriotic. I think manufacturing Milo-tins on wheels, aka coffin on wheels, isn't patriotic either. Frankly, I rather not die for my country this way!