Alfred Molon wrote:
we are flying to KL in December. My Malaysian wife who routinely reads
the news in chinapress.com.my keeps telling me that the security
situation in KL has worsened substantially over the last few years.

Far as I can tell, the only significant increase has heen in snatch thefts
perpetrated by guys on mopeds who grab purses from women walking along the
road. Recently one or two victims were dragged along and badly injured or
killed, and it's gotten a lot of press. The only reason I think this is
actually increased rather than just getting a lot of press is that the
police seem to be responding to it a lot.

The good news is that it's very easy to avoid. These guys ride around
looking for loose bags being carried on the street side.

When I'm in KL I'm used to go to the Citibank branch in Jalan Ampang
even late at night and get larger amounts of cash from the ATM. Now my
wife insists that I stop doing that, because she read stories that
people will wait near the ATM, then follow people who took larger
amounts of cash to steal it from them.

Recently I posted a story (maybe in rec.travel.air) about how I withdrew
about a thousand dollars (RM4000) from an ATM and then managed to spray it
all over the floor, and people helped me pick it up. This happened at the
Jalan Ampang Citibank, after dark. I was worried that some of it would go
under the machines where it would be hard to retrieve, but I never for a
moment worried about crime (other than perhaps a surreptitious pocketing of
a note or two, which didn't happen).

Also there are multiple security guards in there all the time.

She also told me that if you stop with your car at the red traffic light,
it can happen that somebody will open the car door, threaten you with a
knife and steal your money. And so on.

This not worth worrying about. This sort of famous crime happens maybe one
time in every city and then people who are preoccupied with crime become
convinced it happens at every red light. Though I haven't even heard of it
happening here at all.

All this makes me wonder if the security situation in KL has really
deteriorated so much...?

No, but the newspaper sensationalism situation has.

Look, I wander around KL at all hours of the day and night. I always cut
through alleys when it's the shortest way, even if it's 3 in the morning and
there's no light. I sit out on a park bench on Jalan Sultan Ismail after
midnight and access the internet with my laptop. And I am very obviously a
foreigner. I sit in the same place around the same time with decent
regularity, completely absorbed in what I'm doing, and anyone who was
planning something has had ample opportunity.

I have not seen or heard anything which has given me any reason to believe
any of this is a bad idea - nothing that's happened to me, or to anyone I
know or have read about.

The one crime to be worried about in KL was, and continues to be, the
outrageously idiotic behavior of the city's psycho drivers.

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos from 31 countries on 5 continents: http://travel.u.nu