A FEW months ago I took a few journalists who were attending the Commonwealth Journalists Association Conference around Kuching. It was so encouraging to have all the visitors saying good things about Kuching. “It’s so clean.” “It is so peaceful.” “We just love the ambience.”

As a Sarawakian I just can’t get enough of such sweet words about our home. Thus, it was a disappointment to me when I mentioned this to a friend and he said cynically, “Oh, they were just being polite. Anyway there is not much of a night life here. Let’s face it, ours is a sleepy town.”

Then a fortnight ago we had a convention in Kuching where we welcomed a few hundred delegates from outside Sarawak. Again the visitors all praised our beautiful city. And last week I met Bob and his wife. Thirty-five years ago they came here to work under a Canadian volunteers programme. They were more than impressed with the progress of Kuching.

So, I have this to say to my sceptical friend, “Once is an accident, twice is coincidence and thrice is confirmation.” (Sorry, if I messed up that particular expression) Yes, we all do succumb to the ‘familiarity breeds contempt’ syndrome from time to time. I must say that I too at times am guilty of being not fully appreciative of our good fortune. Then again such shortcoming can easily be put right by a short trip to Manila, Jakarta, or even Kuala Lumpur. For after a few days of car fume, traffic jam and all the associated hassle I just can’t wait to get back to ‘sleepy’ Kuching.

Now a few valiant souls of the Sarawak Heritage Society are working very hard to get the government to preserve old Kuching in its historical splendour and plan is afoot to get the many vintage buildings included in the Unesco’s World Heritage list.

However, the charm Kuching goes beyond just the mere physical and tangible aspects. (Here I must apologise for being Kuching-centric. The good things I mentioned here apply equally to the rest of Sarawak.) The one thing we should value most here is the ‘harmony’. I know it sounds so cliques but it is true.

Some of the very endearing and touching images I saw recently were that of our state assemblymen/women, from the government and the opposition, talking civilly and friendly to each other around the Dewan. This is in contrast to the scene in the Peninsula where the opposing parties are hell bent on throwing each other out of the Legislative State Assembly — politically, legally and physically. I believe our representatives in Sarawak are well aware of the very valuable commodity of civility.

Harmony here is manifested in so many ways; suffice for me just to mention a few. This is the place where one can see bak kut teh and mee jawa stalls stand cheek by jowl in a coffeeshop. This is the place where members of the different cultures are just as excited about their neighbours’ festivals as their own.

But if there is one place which epitomises harmony it is the new State Islamic Information Centre. Recently, I took a friend from Kuala Lumpur to visit the place. He just couldn’t believe his eyes.

“Wow! It looks lie a Chinese temple.” He exclaimed pointing to the main building. He could not have put it more eloquently.

So if I may be extravagant and imaginative, I like to compare Kuching to a beautiful dinner with a tableful of sumptuous delicious steaming dishes. But wait a minute! What are these I see crawling over the food? Yuck, annoying little insects!

So what are these metaphorical annoying insects which are despoiling our city? Well, it is the no small matter of snatch theft. Yes, it is no small matter and certainly it is more than just annoying. I know much have been written about this, and there has been much ranting and raving by all parties, but it seems to no avail. All the time the news of the despicable acts of these violent thieving miscreants appears to have found a permanent home in page two of our newspaper.

At the same time, snippets of news about the possible apprehension of these criminals also do not give us much comfort. Sometime ago, a senior law enforcement officer was reported to have said that he did not have enough personnel to effectively police the Kuching Waterfront — apparently the site of many snatch thefts.

Some weeks ago the newspaper carried a report that a snatch thief was sentenced to jail for 21 days! I did a double-take when I read that. I had a thought that it might have been a mistyping by the reporter, but ‘months’ and ‘days’ are miles apart in term of spelling, so it couldn’t be.

Then just last week I read this report: “A man accused of committing robbery with six others (now at large) at the home of a former assemblywoman, has been discharged and acquitted because the prosecution failed to establish a case against him.”

I am not sure if these were cases of smart defence lawyers or … but I am sure there are very sound legal reasons for them. But the situation does not give one much comfort. In fact, during the recent regional conference in Kuching I had half a mind to suggest to the organisers to include a note of warning about snatch thieves and robbers in the conference package, but I thought better of it. It would be putting on the record an indictment of our city. However, most of us made it a point to verbally caution our visitors about the danger.

The reasons for crimes are multifarious and the solution complex. The authorities are trying their best to wrestle with this problem. There had been many seminars and talks on this issue organised by non-government and government agencies to help to increase public understanding and awareness.

So far nothing very concrete and effective has surfaced. At the moment we just have to make do with the obvious suggestion of one crime analyst “…not carrying around expensive or branded bags, not displaying jewellery in public, choose appropriate handbags and always be aware of our surroundings.”

Back to the analogy of our city as a beautiful dinner, I suppose for residents and visitors alike, we just have to learn to enjoy the meal and do not let the insects spoil our fun.

The writer can be contacted at desee@pc.jaring.my