Letter to the Editor | Singapore car drivers need to take anti-theft protection measures instead of anti-theft signs to protect their cars

Dear Editor,

I refer to The Independent Singapore’s featured news: Malaysian police condemn Facebook post encouraging Singapore drivers to put up anti-theft car signs (May 17).

As we all know, it is the responsibility of the car owner to take care of his/her own car and safeguard whatever things are kept inside it at all times. This is regardless of whether the owner is in Singapore or driving to Malaysia.

There are always ways to safeguard the property and security of the car. For example, chain locks and shackles can be used to lock the steering wheel and tyre rims. Installing a car alarm system is another option to deter car theft.

Hence, for Singapore car drivers to put up anti-theft signs might not be an effective solution to deter car theft. It also offends the Malaysian police authority and its law enforcement capabilities.

Hence, it is not a sensible way of dealing with the issue of car theft.

According to the statistics published by Statista Research Department, Malaysia, Nov 15, 2023:

In 2022, more than three thousand car thefts were reported in Malaysia, a slight increase from around 2.85 thousand cases in the previous year. The number of car thefts in the country has significantly decreased from around ten thousand reported cases in 2016.

No matter what, every country also has car thefts. It is a matter of a number of cases only.

In conclusion, car owners must exercise vigilance and extra care to park their cars safely and self-protectively, locally or in Malaysia.

Teo Kueh Liang

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of The Independent Singapore

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