If you want to get the latest news just stay in a pantry full of nurses and you can listen to free news while having a meal. Of course, there is a need to filter what constitutes actual news and gossip. I was rather shocked to know that just a few weeks back a student at my university was allegedly attacked by sulphuric acid and the perpetrator was her friend. I had difficulty understanding how evil a 22-year-old can be to have traveled between 500-600Km just to splash acid on her friend's face causing irreversible damage and blindness in one eye and blurry vision in the other eye. I think the person who committed such a horrible crime is the spawn of Satan.
Think logically, there were many chances for that 22-year-old university student to repent from the moment she had the idea of causing harm to others, to the time she actually got hold of the acid and then made a trip from south to the north of Malaysia and getting access into the university grounds, she could have stopped at any point of time but she did not. No matter what the other person did to her or how much hatred she had, what she did is just unforgivable and should be severely punished. There are many rumors circulating regarding the root cause of the incident but unless it is officially reported, it is all rumors. Currently, that girl is on a MYR 20,000 bail so she is still lurking out there and it made me feel unsafe to know such evil is not behind bars (Then again in the eye of the law she isn't guilty until proven).
In my opinion, the whole incident could have been prevented if the security in the university was intact. In the first place, how could she enter the university grounds? I had to prove that I am a student there even when I was exiting the gates after my run and the guard insisted I show my student ID which I never carry with me but luckily I could show my profile under the online student portal. So, it is either the guard on duty was not doing their job properly or the management's fault for having so many loopholes in their security. Just like the access to the rooftop, I think if I were a criminal and wanted to commit crimes, such as kidnapping, I think it is very easy to do so at my university. It also made me ponder if I am taking things for granted, running alone at night thinking nothing could happen. I recall when I first came here, my supervisor had given me a lot of scary stories of being robbed or attacked and the stories were so scary that I cried before transferring here as I kept thinking that I was putting my life at risk.
I remember my partner was a little exasperated as I cried silently in the car after going room hunting. He asked me why am I crying and I told him I was afraid if I walked to work someone would notice me and kidnap me for my organs or sell me to Thailand. I didn't have all these ideas initially but my superior told me a lot of negative reviews about the place that I started to overthink. I know it is illegal to carry a knife, so I carry a short sharp object which is actually the blade of the central venous line set that I normally do not use and thus remains clean. It is not illegal since it is less than 2.5 inches long and like someone great once said "know the rules and play them better" so I am not breaking any law. However, if I were to meet a bad person, can I bring myself to stab or cut another human on the basis of protecting myself? I do have some doubts about this. I have a brown belt in Karate but I don't know how much of it can I use in reality to protect myself. Back then it was fun to progress through the levels and go for tournaments, such good memories!
At one point I even considered buying a Taser but instead of thinking about all the bad things, I changed my mind and thought about good things. I try to be friendly with my surroundings and heighten my alertness whenever I am walking and I always carry a long umbrella as a weapon as it is more practical than the blade which I might end up injuring myself. The last I was cornered by a pervert, I couldn't even take any defense item out of my bag and so I think the weapon to protect oneself must always be something that is already in your hands. I do have random strangers talk to me to make small talk like "Oh you are a student here?", "Are you working here?", "going for a jog?" and instead of having fear in me, I just coolly and casually reply to them and all is good. The good thing about this place is, the men here hardly cat-call women and I am happy to say no one has ever cat-call me despite me walking daily and encountering so many people and vehicles. With time, I think those strangers who talked to me have no bad intentions and they sort of look out for me.
A junior taught me to remain cool if people cat-call me and I really look up to her for her logic and bravery. She is 10 years younger than me yet more sensible than me. I remembered when half a dozen of men were cat-calling us, she told me to just smile, look ahead, walk, and ignore. At that time I was already having palpitations and I held her hand and quickly walked past the men. She told me most of the time they are just harmless and do that for their own entertainment and if I get flustered it will just escalate the cat-calling. I find it disrespectful sometimes and the impatient part of me would love to shout profanities at them but I know that is not a smart move.
It is just another half a year to stay safe and alive at this place and after that I will probably be back to the cat-calling land which isn't so bad after all. I can't wait to surprise my parents at the end of the month by suddenly appearing at home and I realize I will be taking a flight every month from this month till August. I just wish it could involve overseas travel because I feel a little addicted to traveling alone but I know it is not a good idea to travel alone to just anywhere. I really would like to see the artificial northern lights at Garden's by the Bay but I am not spontaneous enough to make a trip there just for that besides I had wanted to watch the lights with my partner but he doesn't like anything man-made. Maybe I should just kidnap him and go ^^
Comments