bakedbean

This has been doing the rounds across Facebook groups the last day or so. For those of you not on FB here's an article from the Star:

Couple robbed of RM500,000 - Nation | The Star Online

The facebook grapevine has confirmed that the Batu Ferringhi break-in where the Dutch couple got tied up (and thankfully unharmed) was at Moonlight Bay. I hope someone has kicked the security guys into the bay

Re: Tanjung Bungah, it seems to be up at Casa Permai in Tg Bungah hillside. Whether that is Alila Homes or one of the surrounding houses, I don't know. There have been break-ins up in that area before.

Jorbobean

Great! Here we are hoping to escape South African crime situation by moving to Malaysia and I see the news like this.

I thought Batu Ferringhi was quite a safe area. Now I have to rethink it.

What do you think is the safest place to live in Penang?

Jorbobean

Great! Here we are hoping to escape South African crime situation by moving to Malaysia and I see the news like this.

I thought Batu Ferringhi was quite a safe area. Now I have to rethink it.

What do you think is the safest place to live in Penang?

bakedbean

In a condo is the easiest, as you generally have several layers of security. In a landed place, you need to be very sure of your security...like anywhere!

Nowhere is crime-free. You need to be realistic. Penang is NOT Utopia but I personally think it is a great place to be, and so do a lot of others.

I have a load of friends living in Batu Ferringhi, both in landed and condos, and I don't know of any of those experiencing any crime. Oh I even know a South African lady who lives there :-)

Penang for sure is not South Africa. I can tell you that.

JustAnotherFerringhi

Was anyone caught for this? Moonlight Bay seems posh, I guess they didn't invest enough in security though.

JC3

For landed property I think the best way foe expats to deal with burglary problems are:[LIST][*]Gated community with security patrols[*]Metal grills on your windows and doors[*]Alarm system[*]CCTV[*]Dog

And don’t keep valuables and cash at home, put them in the bank. A safe deposit box is less than RM 250 a year.

The basic principle is to make your home a less inviting proposition to a burglar than the other homes nearby. In my view good quality grills are essential for landed property.

That said, in Penang, it is unwise to flaunt your wealth (flashy cars, watches etc), and ‘high-value’ burglary is often an inside job – e.g. you have a wonderful foreign maid for a year or two, she leaves…you later get burgled. You have a contractor in, he spots valuables in the house…you later get burgled.

It's worth remembering that in Malaysia about 1/3 of security guards are employed illegally, and it's a lowly job, paying about RM1,200 a month. You may be lucky and get top notch guards - that's a rarity though.

JC3

JustAnotherFerringhi

Sensible advice. I'm currently shopping around for a place to rent. Other than walls and guards at the gate, I don't think any of the places I've seen thus far have had much in terms of security. It's obviously tricky to know whether the guards are any good or not.

Any idea how much it might cost to outfit a 2,000 sqft villa with security details? Say I find a nice place with everything except grills, alarms and whatnot.

man from emas

Cannot comment on grill pricing, you will need to phone around try, & get some basic quotes, price needs to include installation, that can vary depending on window, & door types. A nice reasonable grill fitted for a normal external door may cost about 2.5k myr, windows will depend on if sliding or swing out, that depends where the grill will go, also are windows wood, ally, resin based.

Alarm systems again think about 4/5.K+ myr this depends on CCTV how many cameras ? alarm unit, recorder, monitor, do you want it connected to Internet for remote viewing ? all have a price impact.

SushiFan

Before actually doing any of this you may want to discuss this with the house owner. The owner might not be too thrilled if you make all kind of modifications. And may force you to remove everything by the time you move house to another place.

owned

Or will keep it in place thus adding value to their property at your expense.

If the house doesn't have what you need, get the landlord to fit it. If they won't then move on to the next as there is lots to choose from. It doesn't hurt reminding any potential landlord this fact either during negotiation.

JustAnotherFerringhi

Yes, I was asking so I'd have an idea of the costs involved. A landlord might be OK with a small investment but not a major one.

The properties I've been looking in don't have any major security features other than guards, yet people have AFAIK been living there a good while without any incidents. Some of them even have large glass doors on ground level, those would certainly be tricky to secure against brute force.

columbine

When I was in a landed with guard and security I replaced the lower floor big panes of windows and doors with the security laminated glass ie a hard to break film that's built in between the panes. Not cheap but better looking than having grilles covering all the windows and doors.

JC3

The type of sliding doors you describe can be very easily lifted off their tracks from the outside of the house in a few seconds by an experienced 'builder'. There are very simple and very cheap solutions that make this much more difficult - it's worth looking up on Google and YouTube.

JC3

OriginalSunshine

Planks of wood in the door frames bases

Or drill and screw the doors permanently closed, though this is a fir hazard

rhinoboy55

I lived in Penang for three years at the Reef Condo, and I was always suspicious of the guards and never told them where or how long I was leaving for. Or just say KL for a day when i was really going to Bali for a month. When I first moved in, I locked my self out of the steel gate and the maintenance guy climbed like spiderman along an edge of the condo to my utter amazement an was inside in no time. The lady who sold me the place Rose always warned me to be more careful about security and I paid the hard way getting robbed at knife point in broad daylight on that road through the woods on the back of the island on my motorbike. Nobody stopped to help whatsoever. I was also run down on purpose by a pissed off Chinese guy and he was put up for attempted murder for a tiny traffic misunderstanding, and attacked in front of a small shop by an old Chinese man for the way I parked and he beat the crap out of my car with his cane. Everything gets blamed on Indonesians but I don't buy it. After all that I left. I stay in Chiang Mai now for three years but the pollution and traffic here is so horrendous Lord knows where to go. There were many things I liked about Penang, food costs etc and clean air. But the robbery and attacks were zero fun.