Mr. Lai Fatt Sian, stop playing numbers!

I am writing this with grave concern that our beloved FAM(Faculty of Accountancy and Management) Dean, Mr. Lai Fatt Sian has replied ignorantly when replying to reporters questions. The points that he has raised were

• FAM conducts seminars frequently and put up posters to increase the students’ awareness of the safety.
• Taking into consideration the large number of students FAM has, the students who are robbed are few.
• The security of FAM is strict, students who are entering the building need to show the student ID.

While I have totally no objection to his first point made. I am particularly disturbed and disappointed with the second statement made by him. Mr. Lai, are you suggesting that since FAM has almost 6000 students, it is very normal for some students being robbed and the number of students being robbed is so immaterial that UTAR is not going to take any further action? Are you implying that some of the FAM students need to and should be robbed since FAM has such a large number of students?

According to your logic, we could further infer that “Taking into consideration the large number of students FAM has, the students who are murdered are few(in fact only one)”
Therefore we should not be interested with the death of Tang Lai Meng since we still have some 6000 other students in FAM. We should stop making a fuss out of the case since the loss of one student is so immaterial! Is this what you meant by saying that?

Do we need to make such a concession to crime that we could accept students being robbed? Definitely not! We want a zero crime rate in Sungai Long. None of the students deserved to be robbed, they have the right to walk fearless on the street, and they have the right to stay in a safe and secured neighborhood!

I would also like to point out something from your third statement. You mentioned that students who are entering the campus need to show the student ID. I say not. Students need only to show their ID card holder. Your guards only recognize the blue string of the card holder. Let me relay my own experience. There was a couple of occasions that I left my ID tag holder at home, the guards refused to let me in though I showed my student ID. My question is, isn’t a student ID good enough to prove your student identity? Why do you need the ID tag holder? I have seen students entering the campus with an empty ID tag holder(without student ID) and some even replace the student ID with a touch and go card. Obviously, your guard only recognizes the ID tag holder but not the student ID!

The very first day when I was on the induction course in PwC, I was told the evacuation plan and how to react during an emergency. Do you have any evacuation plans during emergency? I see only two exits for the FAM building since UTAR decided to lock the emergency door so as to make it easier for your guards to check the students ID TAG HOLDER when entering the building!

I propose that you amend your second and third statements to something more “meaningful” as follow

• I hereby ensure you that I will try my best to fight crime in whatever capacity I could and provide a safe study environment/neighborhood for the students by keeping the crime rate in Sungai Long to the most minimum level.
• If I fail to do so in three months time, I shall step down as FAM dean.