Safety at LRT stations

TRANSIT took note of this article in the Malay Mail on Monday 6 July and wish to bring it to your attention.

Pudu LRT area haven for criminals
Teoh El Sen
Monday, July 6th, 2009 06:56:00

TOO DARK: The walkway near Jalan Sarawak
is said to be a haunt for violent robbers

NOBODY takes a after-dark stroll down the streets around Jalan Pudu without a heart-pounding fear of being robbed. We can now add another street to this list of unsafe places.

In April, Malay Mail highlighted the high number of snatch thefts and robberies at the “black triangle” of Jalan Changkat Thambi Dollah especially during weekends.

We now have learnt that another spot close by is also a hot bed of criminal activity.

A reader alerted us that near the Pudu LRT parking lot, adjacent to Jalan Pudu, is a pedestrian bridge that is totally without lighting – a sure invitation to robbers.

“Every hawker in San Peng surely has a story to tell. The crimes start from 10pm till 6am and especially vulnerable are those going back late or going to pasar early.

We’ve heard of some who have grown notorious for hitting people on the head with bats before they rob their victims. Very evil,” said the reader, identified only as Wong.

It is believed that vandals may have spoilt the lighting system at the walkway. And sure enough, when Malay Mail visited the area on Thursday at 2.30am, an elderly man had just been robbed half-an-hour earlier.

A dazed Cheah Ah Sing, 62, said he was confronted by two young men on a motorcycle when he was walking home about 2am.

“They asked me for my IC rudely, claiming to be cops. I showed them my identity card and suddenly one of them just grabbed my wallet and kicked me,” said Cheah, who lost about RM50 and even his house keys.

Though he could not really remember the number plate or the men’s faces, Cheah made a police report at the Cheras police district headquarters.

Another victim, Keong, a 32-year-old restaurant worker, said he was beaten up in March by robbers. He has since stopped working at a hotel because of the lack of security.

“Too many times. It’s too dangerous to work at night here,” he said.

Keong was surrounded by a group of about seven youths on motorbikes in March when he was walking home from his hotel receptionist job late one night.

“They chased me till I reached Jalan Sarawak and they hit me with chains and iron rods,” he said, adding that he suffered bruises to his head and shoulders, and lost about RM100 and documents. Keong added that three other times, he got lucky and spotted them before they could get near him.

Earlier this year, a report in a Malay daily claimed that of 1,206 criminal cases involving robbery and snatch thefts in Kuala Lumpur since early this year, more than 100 were believed to be in Jalan Changkat Thambi Dollah.

Reacting to the worrying numbers, Kuala Lumpur police stepped up operations city-wide and have reduced the increasing crime rate by about 16 per cent to date.

TRANSIT says:

We will follow up on this. In the meantime, we urge you please take note your surroundings wherever you may be.