MOST of Malaysia rejoiced with cathartic ecstasy when it was announced on Sunday that this nation’s most wanted man was found in Johor after more than two weeks on the run.

In the annals of Malaysian gun crimes, there can be none more heinous than that perpetrated by the security guard who shot at the head of a female bank officer in Subang Jaya to relieve her of close to half-a-million ringgit that was destined to be deposited in a safe within the premises. Talk about a gamekeeper-turn-poacher, this was a classic case of harapkan pagar, pagar makan padi – the fence being used as a tool to enhance the commission of a crime rather than becoming barrier.

How much more unfathomably heartless an act can there be than a man entrusted to look after the security of a financial establishment – someone you are familiar with who suddenly turns rogue and callously blasts his way into notoriety?

So when the most notoriously (in)famous security guard – at the moment whose nationality is yet to be completely confirmed but widely described as Indonesian (initially thought to be Filipino soon after the incident) – was flushed out from his hideout in Kota Tinggi, there was widespread call for REVENGE!.

GETTING EVEN

Twittersphere was flooded with postings demanding that a similar bullet be aimed at his head and be done with it. Heated comments bayed for blood. Do unto him what he did unto others – was the mantra. Summary justice, swift solution was the unanimous call from some sections of the Malaysian public.
There would be complete resonance if you lived in some medieval societies that hold fast to the belief that two wrongs make one right.

Thankfully, our constitution and penal code is less driven by such populism – which is amazing considering we find ourselves politically and socially living in just such an environment; but we will desist from comment and leave that for a different occasion.

We have proper procedures within the penal code that simply does not provide for the summary dispatch of a criminal’s life in the exact same manner the victim was subjected to.

It is quite amazing that there are sections of the community who want gory retribution. They would at least have a decent education up to secondary school level as they seem quite eloquent in their Twitter or Facebook rants.

The subject of gun crime, which quite worryingly has made a comeback of sorts with yet another high-profile murder in broad daylight with the murder of a religious department officer in Kuantan. The officer was notably involved in the job to eradicate vice as well as to root out deviationist teachings in Pahang. Now if a religious department officer cannot go about his normal duties unmolested – and in this case actually felled by gunfire – which other enforcement officer is similarly endangered?

FANS PLAY WITH FIRE

This followed the curious case of a gun being found in the toilet of the Shah Alam stadium which was the venue of last week’s Malaysia Cup final between Pahang and Kelantan. What! Whatever’s come into the psyche of the average Malaysian football fan? In the past, possession of a pair of lastik (homemade catapult) would have been about the most lethal weapon in a local hooligan’s armory. With guns cheap, and lives cheaper (in the words of the Singapore New Paper), it simply goes to show how death can appear at one’s doorstep nowadays.

One of my most favourite movies is The Godfather. For me, the most memorable scene was the elaborate lengths a gun was planted in the toilet of a restaurant at the height of the bloody wars between the feuding Sicilian families for control of the criminal turf in New York.

In it, Al Pacino, playing Michael Corleone guns down crooked cop McCluskey with drug dealer Sollozo while the pair were busy wolfing down pasta – delicious!

Once the victim was lured to the restaurant for a so-called conciliation meeting – both protagonists frisked to relieve anyone of any firearms – the rival made an excuse to go to the restroom. Once in the cubicle, he climbed up the commode, rummaged behind the rusty cistern to retrieve the hidden Colt.

Suitably armed, he promptly pumped all five rounds, a sixth for good measure into the head and body of the hapless victim and a full-blown Mafia rival family war erupted. That, more than anything else propelled both Marlon Brando and Al Pacino into gangland moviedom and got me hooked on rented Mafia movie VCDs.

Lets get back to the security guard. It would be too easy to let the head rule the heart and just let the law of the jungle prevail. Were we to be living in less enlightened times, some lynch mob would have pulled him apart from limb to limb and exacted revenge.

I would have thought the police should be allowed to use the softest feather available to torture-tickle the sole of his feet so that he will divulge what happened to the RM400,000 loot from the bank he got away with.

That way, at least, we will see the money back!

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RAZAK Chik would like to see foreign criminals made to serve time in their own homeland.
Ends.