OCTOBER 21 — I walked past a motorcycle workshop the other day and saw it had chained the grates over the nearby drains.
Makes sense, I thought, and kept walking.
Years ago, someone had stolen the grate cover in front of my gate, which had my brother fall right into the drain in the dark.
Nothing was safe if it was made from metal in those days but now instead of plundering scrap metal, thieves are risking electrocution for a risky payload with a huge payoff.
I hear talk they’re trying to stop cable theft by increasing penalties but let me ask you this — when have penalties ever stopped people when the reward is bigger than the risk?
It makes me sad sometimes (or maybe I’ve just been successfully indoctrinated by all the anti-dadah propaganda of the 80s) that even with the huge penalties for drug trafficking, it still happens.
When you consider your life being worth less than money, it’s just tragic.
Snatch theft became less of a common incident in the Klang Valley when delivery services gained momentum.
Why steal a purse for uncertain returns when you could go around with your bike for fixed payments?
Now the delivery companies are beginning to reduce payouts, making delivery jobs a lot less enticing.
With so many delivery platforms and the existence of emails, becoming a dispatch rider for a company is no longer an option for young school leavers.
Why pay someone a set amount when you can probably contract a company to do the same, often for cheaper?
Now people are willing to risk their lives to steal cables, likely backed by shady figures looking to rake in millions by recruiting the poor and desperate.
Yes, rail companies need to be smarter about securing their cables. Technology exists. Sensors, cameras, monitoring systems — all that can be implemented.
Yet what rail companies cannot control is the socioeconomic factors that encourage the thefts.
I look at the videos of young people rampaging on the streets of Paris and see the derisive comments.
Yes, I do think it’s unfair that small business owners had their storefronts destroyed alongside large companies whose insurance will cover all the damage.
The solution is not increasing the policing or further oppressing the disenfranchised.
It is well-documented how lopsided the distribution of income has become and income disparity has only increased in recent years.
Now AI has not empowered anyone but the rich tech oligarchs making money from ridiculous overvaluations while many are losing their jobs.
Sometimes I sigh seeing the businessmen who are convinced that people like me can be replaced with a bot.
While it is important to snuff out these rogue agents targeting power and communication cables, disincentivizing theft by making easy money less attractive is the better strategy in the long run.
If you want people to make better choices, then make them available. Make crime, heists so unpalatable in comparison to a comfortable living situation.
Few people are more dangerous than the ones with nothing left to lose and that is something leaders everywhere should note, especially after the Paris riots.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
