The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion
The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion |
| The snatch thief and the iPhone Posted: 11 Oct 2012 05:18 PM PDT OCT 12 — My wife called me up on the phone sobbing uncontrollably, which actually made me panic since she has never done that before. "I just got robbed!" she sobbed. "What?" I asked. "I said I just got robbed!" (Still sobbing.) "I can't understand what you're saying. Stop crying and speak properly!" "My handbag just got snatched!" (Not sobbing anymore.) "Oh no! What about the iPhone 4s that I just bought you for your birthday?" "It was in my pocket, not in my handbag. How do you think I'm calling you now?" "Oh." After I was convinced that the brand spanking new iPhone 4s was safe and secure, I asked my wife if she was okay. Fortunately, she was unhurt but shaken. Also fortunate was the fact that, although she had lost her handbag, she only had about RM30 in it. But of course, her IC, driver's licence, ATM card and credit card all had to be replaced. So I wonder who the joke is on here — the guy who got only RM30 for his very risky effort, or my wife and I who were glad that only RM30 was gone. The issue here is, of course, the rampant crime that is happening in Malaysia and the fact that the government seems to think that this is just a matter of perception. My wife experienced it first-hand, and so have many other people we know. I have even seen people having their purses snatched on several occasions while having drinks with my friends at night. So many other journalists and writers seem to have experienced it too, judging by the number of personal accounts published in the media. So I don't think it is merely a perception. It makes me even more irritated when the government says that what it needs to do is to battle the negative perception that the crime rate is high. I don't know about the rest of you, but I wouldn't even be satisfied if they said that they want to battle crime so people feel safer. Think about it. The most rampant crimes are really the petty ones, with snatch thefts being the most common. It isn't exactly serious organised crime. There has to be other deeper issues that are causing these petty crimes to be occurring at such a high rate. Don't you think? I'm no criminologist, psychologist, economist, sociologist, policeman, or politician. I'm just a humble journalist, documentary film-maker, father, husband and Malaysian citizen. So what I have to say may not carry much weight but hear me out anyway and don't click the mouse since you've already read my column this far. A person must really be desperate when they feel that they need to go to so much trouble and risk to snatch someone's purse when the returns may not be that much. Could it be because he can't find a job? Could it be because the job he has doesn't pay enough for him to survive? Could it be because the cost of living is just too high? It could be so many other factors that are contributing to the feeling of desperation for someone to resort to committing petty crimes. So I'm guessing that the issue is much bigger than just crime. Maybe more thorough research needs to be done to find out the root cause of the problem and to come up with a solution. But hey, I'm no criminologist, psychologist, economist, sociologist, policeman or politician. I'm just a humble journalist, documentary film-maker, father, husband and Malaysian citizen. For the moment, I'm just glad I don't have to buy my wife a new iPhone 5 just yet! * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. |
| Posted: 11 Oct 2012 05:00 PM PDT OCT 12 — Why aren't Russia better at football? It's an interesting question with no obvious answer. After all, Russia is by far the largest country in Europe in terms of population (140 million according to the United Nations — nearly double the next on the list, Germany) and has a strong sporting pedigree which was once again demonstrated by their 82-medal haul — third behind only China and the United States — at this summer's Olympic Games. Russia is also a mature country in footballing terms, with a long history in the game and a national league dating back to 1936. Yet the Russian (and Soviet Union, going back into the communist era) national team, and Russian/Soviet club teams in domestic competition, have a notably lousy record. They started well enough, with the Soviet Union winning the inaugural European Championships in France in 1960 (helped by the fact that only 16 nations entered), but it's been a long history of underachievement ever since. The Soviet squad did manage to reach three more European finals, in 1964, 1972 and most recently 1988 when they were overcome by the brilliance of Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten's Netherlands (remember that volley by van Basten in the final? Check it out on YouTube if not). Their World Cup record is truly dismal with a best-ever placement of fourth in 1966, when they lost to West Germany in the semi-final and were then defeated by Eusebio's Portugal in the third-place play off. They've not progressed beyond the group stage in any World Cup finals since 1986 in Mexico, and didn't even qualify for the last two finals — missing out on qualifying for the 2010 proceedings in South Africa after narrowly losing a play-off against Slovenia, a country with a population of just two million (one-seventieth the size of Russia's). Things have been no better in club football. No Russian or Soviet team has ever won the Champions League or European Cup, with solitary successes in the UEFA Cup (forerunner to the Europa League) for CSKA Moscow (2005) and Zenit St Petersburg (2008) the only silverware claimed by Russian clubs on the continental stage. Without embarking upon a detailed analysis of the history of Russian football (which I haven't done), I'm afraid I couldn't venture to offer an explanation for Russia's perennial failings. It's certainly not a reflection of the nation's overall sporting prowess, which is generally extremely strong as demonstrated by their consistently excellent performances in both the Summer and Winter Olympics. You couldn't accuse them of only being successful at individual sports, either — CSKA Moscow's basketball team, for instance, have won the prestigious Euroleague title on no less than six occasions. Perhaps it's got something to do with the weather. Average temperatures in Moscow dip below freezing for five months of the year — hardly conducive to the effective development of an outdoors sport. But that shouldn't be an excuse because there has always been enough investment in Russian sport — historically through the armed forces and now through entrepreneurial billionaires — to provide indoor facilities, particularly at professional level. The latest man charged with attempting to reverse the sequence of Russian footballing favour is Fabio Capello, who took over as national team manager from Dick Advocaat following Russia's predictably frustrating Euro 2012 campaign (won the first game 4-1 against the Czech Republic but failed to win again and didn't make the knockout stage). Capello's "achievements" (very much in inverted commas) in international management with England do very little to inspire confidence that he can be the man to lead Russia into a glorious new future, but it's only fair to give him a chance. This is a man, after all, who has won more than a dozen major titles during a glitteringly successful managerial career, including the 1994 European Cup with AC Milan, so he should know what he's doing. One of the reasons for Capello's failure with England was his apparent inability to ever learn the English language at a decent level, meaning that he was never able to establish any rapport with his players. So it was somewhat concerning to read an interview on UEFA's website this week where Capello admitted he doesn't even recognise the Russian Cyrillic alphabet yet, never mind speak the language. That can't exactly help provide too much clarity in those all-important pre-match team meetings. Despite the language barrier, Capello has made a winning start to his Russian adventure. His new team were unconvincing in a 2-0 home victory over Northern Ireland to kick off their World Cup qualifying campaign, but improved to register a more emphatic 4-0 away win in Israel. Next up are Portugal in one of tonight's more attractive fixtures (11pm kick off, Malaysian time). The game in Moscow could go a long way towards deciding the final outcome of a weak group also containing Azerbaijan and Luxembourg. It will surely be a straight race between Russia and Portugal for top spot and automatic qualification for Brazil in 2014, with the runners-up left to the perils of a play-off. Capello certainly has a large pool of players to choose from, but his team doesn't possess any individuals even close to the ability of Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo. And if the Real Madrid star can lead his team to a point or more in Moscow tonight, the Capello reign will start to face some serious questioning even at this early stage; Russia's bleak football history might not get much better any time soon. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. |
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