On 29th November 2006, someone wrote to the The Star regarding a lady friend of his that had her handbag stolen while watching a movie at Cineleisure Mutiara Damansara, Kuala Lumpur. The male thief was caught by security who was revealed to be a disabled holding an OKU (Orang Kurang Upaya) card [a card which verifies his disability].

Apparently, the disabled-status thief was also “mentally challenged”, but still could go, by himself, to the cinema, buy a discounted ticket using his OKU card, waited while everybody was engrossed by the movie being shown, then proceeded to quietly steal from the unsuspecting woman.

At the police station, the police officer in charge tried to talk her out of pressing charges, instead to “take pity on the thief because he was a disabled person.”

Then today, it was reported that a 27-year old wheelchair-bound man in George Town, Penang was caught red-handed using a rock to smash the side windows of two cars and stealing items inside them.

The single man, who receives a RM150 monthly allowance from the Social Welfare Department also has two previous thefts to his name.

What do you think? Is disability a ticket for symphathy which can encourage disabled criminals to repeat their deeds? Everybody wants to make ends meet, disabled or not, and it’s not as if they’re aiming to finance their orlando vacations this way.

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