A House Burglary

Nowadays , almost everybody are talking about the economic turmoil that will hit our country . Although certain quarter are trying to deny it in the beginning , but trust me it is real ..the threat are real. More and more people are being laid off ...anyone who are interested to know the count can follow this link http://2-sen.blogspot.com/2009/03/retrenchment-who-is-keeping-count.html .
Actually , my main concern right now is more towards the ripple effect that follow the event . So what really happen when people get the boot-off from their workplace ?what happens when they lost their source of income? what happens to the company who can no longer supply their product because of the nearly non-existence demand?? What happens to the immigrant workers who no longer needed in the factory or the construction site ? Jobs are getting more scarce day by day and people need to survive.So what are the options left??? 2 actually legal channel and illegal channel .The illegal channel is the one that we should watch out because it usually involve with crime such as fraud , kidnapping , petty theft and last but not least my topic of the day house burglary.
Let me share an event that really happen to me and my family few years back. It is really a traumatic experience and i 'm still having some episode about it .It all happens 7 months after i'm settling down in Malacca in 2004. I live in a gated community because I always put safety on top of the list of my priorities but the irony is sometime the safest place can be the most dangerous.
One unfortunate night while every soul were taking a rest after a hectic routine during the day , I was suddenly interrupted from my deep sleep by a loud thumping sound . The moment I opened my eyes I saw 4 dark figure rushing from my bedroom door . It happen so fast , by the time i'm reaching out for my conceal weapon (parang) behind the head board of the bed , one of the perpetrator had already put a knife to the neck of my sleeping son and the other 3 were moving very fast towards me . Let stop for a moment and analyse this situation.
On one hand , you can grab the parang(trust me it is sharp enough) and put up a serious fight or on the other hand surrender for the sake of your love ones. Tell me what would you do in this intense situation? This is the situation that we malays said ' diluah mati emak , ditelan mati bapak ' meaning that someone are in the situation of unable making a decision from 2 available options.Both options have their own consequences. Am I capable of overpowering them? Alhamdulillah through out the years especially during my youth time I have acquired some skill which I strongly believe I can defend myself or inflict some serious hurt to others . But in this situation i'm totally dumbfounded , I have never prepared for this .True ! I am able to defend myself but what about my love ones??My primal instinct are telling me to fight all of the bad guys . Just as I'm about to follow my instinct , my wife woke up and was screaming on top of her lungs and quickly turned to our daughter next to her then she rush to my son to defend him(never underestimate maternal instinct) . At this crucial moment , I told her to stop on her track and I have decided to gave up and shout to all of the burglars " take what ever you want but don't hurt my family ".Somehow the burglars nodded and instructed us not to move and quickly seize all valuable items in the room.
I quickly realized all of them are indonesians based on their accent . 2 of them were watching my movement , 1 was still with my son and the other burglar was ransacking the room . It seems that they are not taking a lot of time , in less than a minute everything was over.Then they quickly got out of the bedroom and made an exit through the back door. I gathered all my family and made sure none of them were hurt before running to my neighbour house to seek help to call the police (all handphones had been stolen and my area does not have a landline during that time). The police came half an hour later and going through the police process were another ordeal but that is a different story .Suffice to say the case remain open until today .
One thing for sure , when it come to life and death situation , one have to go through the experience to fully understand . Although my wife remains calm after the ordeal ,but still she could not sleep in the room for weeks . Later , she told me that all she could think of is to get revenge.She even told me all the gory details of how she is going to do it . As for me , there are times when i ask myself what happen if i choose to fight?Would i still be alive?Would my son(by the way , he is six years old today) still be alive? What happen if i had kill at least one of the burglar?i guess it will always remain a question .
After about a week , my wife and I when to see the investigating officer and according to him those feeling are quite normal for burglary victim especially after going through such traumatic experience.He also explain that if either one of us gave a fight and resulting to the death of one of the robbers 2 things might happen :
1) you will never forgive yourself and the guilt will haunt you for years .
2)you will develop the thirst for more blood

what an experience right?

I pray to god that I don't have to go through such situation again and if it occur again I also pray that I have the upper hand this time.

What worry me the most now it seems that crime rate are going up again and house burglary are becoming more rampant . Prevention are always better than cure right? Below are some of the suggestion that i think will help to prevent the break-in :

1) Install home alarm system (will eliminate the surprise attack and will give more time to execute contingency plan)
2) alert of any changes outside the house for instance bad smell , any foreign mark on your window or doors (normally burglars will test the perimeter and do some homework especially the one with black magic)
3) aware of any unusual strangers looking suspiciously at your house or surroundings.
4)Always try gather information from your neighbours (because normally if the burglar fails to break in to a house they will move their attention to another house in the following day or week)
5)if your child are young , try to sleep in one room (our child are the main target to make the parents helpless and weak)
6) make sure all compound lights are switch on and well lit (don't try to be such a cheapskate turning it off to save your electricity)
and many-many more ....

hopefully none of you will have to go through it...