Bittersweet ...

My neighbourhood will on the 1st of July be officially classified as a gated community. And I have bittersweet feelings about it. For the benefits of my international visitors, I live in a place called USJ Subang Jaya which are divided into various sections from USJ 1 up to USJ god knows how many (twenty plus in all I would think) ... LOL!

And almost all of these sections have their own neighbourhood community associations that look into the well being of their own neighbourhood. It's all voluntary mind you and if funds are needed, the hat will be passed around to all the residents of the neighbourhood community.

When I first moved in here, the place was a nice and decent place and it is still is. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else and I even bought a condo here, which unfortunately construction is stalled at the moment. But as of a couple of years ago, the crime rate has gone up considerably (the same as everywhere else in this country) and there were quite a lot of break ins in my neighbourhood.

And these robbers were bold, they actually break into people's houses in the afternoon when some of them are at work. I've had both my left and right neighbours houses broken into and we didn't even know anything about it even though, my mom was home. We only knew about it when the Police dropped by in the evening after the neighbours came back and found their house a mess.

In fact, once I think they even tried to break into my place when no one was in. But it was a failed attempt cos my place is covered with an alarm system and it triggered and I was informed about the attempted break in by the alarm company who called me and the Police who came and checked out my house and found the back door tempered with. I guess the alarm must have frightened them off.

And that wasn't all, one of the residents just a few house away from me was slashed in the arm and robbed of her car in the middle of the afternoon as she was opening her gate to get into her house. After all these incidents, the residents community decided to hire some security guards to patrol the streets all day long. It was really sad that we had come to a point in life where security guards were needed in your own backyard, but it was all for the best. I felt a little safer sleeping at nights knowing that there were guards patrolling the place outside.

Now, back then, the guards just patrolled the area and just about anyone was allowed to drive in, out and around the neighbourhood. The section I live in is a pretty small and cozy section and has about five entrances and exits into it. So you could drive in from one entrance and drive out any of the others and vice versa. And the guards couldn't do all that much to check who came in and out of the neighbourhood.

Even with the guards, the crime didn't stop. It decreased a little but there were still spates of break ins every now and then cos just about anyone could drive through the area. Then a little over four months ago, a petition by the residents community to the local council to allow the neighbourhood to put up barricades and guard houses at all five entrances and exits were put in motion. And finally after a long 'battle' with the council, approval was given and the barricades were built.

And come July 1st, the barricades would officially be active with all the gates being closed from 11pm to 6am in the morning. All residents here were issued with car stickers to allow them to come in after the gates were down and those without stickers who wanted to come in after 11pm would not be allowed in unless they were cleared by any of the residents here. Even if you wanted to drive through in the afternoons with the gate open, you still had to sign in at the guard houses before you were allowed in. That made the neighbourhood all that much safer.

Now, while I'm really happy with these cos at least now no Tom, Dick or Harry with bad intentions on his mind were allowed into the neighbourhood at nights or at least were monitored in the day time, it still left me with a bittersweet feeling. On one hand I'm so much more at ease knowing wifey, the kids and mom are 'protected' at home while I'm at work, I feel a little sad that a regular road user who pays for his/her road tax is denied the right to use a common road.

And it brings me to this question. Is the world really becoming so bad that we have to fence up our neighbourhoods and not allow someone from another neighbourhood access to enter? Is this the sign of what's to come in the future? Are we all going to be so disconnected from everyone that we end up being isolated in our little corner of the world? No, maybe I'm going a little too deep with this. It isn't as bad as I make it out to be. But it sure looks like it's heading in that direction. A lot of places are being gated up and denying access to 'outsiders' from coming in.

I don't blame them in the least. In fact I embrace the idea. What with all the craziness that is happening in this world today. I am so much more at ease knowing that even as I type this post there are security guards on their bikes patrolling out there. I am so much more at ease knowing that when my kids go to the nearby park, there is someone out there looking out for them but I can't shake this feeling that somehow this is all wrong. Somehow, some genuine person out there who may just want to drive through the neighbourhood just to look at houses (which I myself do at times) or even take a short cut, will be denied access just cos he's not a resident here.

But then, I suppose I'd rather be safe than sorry and as much as it does bug me that this gated community thing will one day isolate all of us from each other, I cannot think of a better solution to deter crime. While the crime rate may not completely stop here cos if someone up to no good wanted to steal all your possessions and sinks (ok, maybe not your sinks la... LOL) and no matter how much of security you may have, he'll probably still find a way to do it. But at least it does make anyone with bad intentions think twice before they even do anything.

So, I do apologize to any of you outsiders who happen to come to my neighbourhood and are denied access just cos you're not 'one of us' but you could always tell the guards you've come to visit me and I'll gladly tell them to let you in ... LOL! I know I would be pissed if I were to drive to some other neighbourhood and be denied access to it just cos I'm an outsider so to speak. Well, at least now you know why I have bittersweet feelings about all this.
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