Malaysia Crime Blog » News

Malaysia Crime iPhone App #1

Kegan Gan — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:17:35 +0000

Malaysia Crime iPhone App is currently the top downloaded app under Utilities category for the Malaysian App Store.

iPhone App

Kegan Gan — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:07:35 +0000

What to know where are the crimes in Malaysia? There’s an app for that!

Introducing Malaysia Crime iPhone App. This iPhone application taps into Malaysia Crime GeoRSS feeds to bring you the following:

Read latest news reports of crimes
See the reports closest to you
Browse news reports on a map
Auto-update gets you the latest reports

Thanks to Jason Khong from Apptivity Lab for developing the Malaysia Crime iPhone App.

Going on air at BFM 89.9

Kegan Gan — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:53:32 +0000

Almost forget to post about this.

Malaysia Crime will go on air on Tech Talk at BFM 89.9 on 12pm Tue, 3 Nov 2009.

Be sure to tune in!

Some Questions about Malaysia Crime

Kegan Gan — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:30:48 +0000

Last week a company approach me for a sponsorship deal. Whether this will work out or not, still yet to be known. Nevertheless, they have posted me with a series of questions which I would like to share them here with you.

1. What is Malaysia Crime?

Malaysia Crime is a website that shows crimes in Malaysia on a map.

2. What gave you the idea to start Malaysia Crime? What was your inspiration?

Sometime in March 2009, a person I know was mugged in PJ. He was attacked and lost a finger. It was a shock to me. And I realized somewhat deeply, that crimes are no longer somethings we read in the newspaper that happened to people we don’t know in a far away places. Crimes are things that more and more happening to people close to us. And one day it will happen to ourselves, or worse, to our families.

It is a feeling of urgency. Crime is getting out of control. And I wanted people to feel this urgency like I have.

At that time, the only way I know how was to use a map. Because, I think this makes people realized the amount of crimes that are happening near them. That they would not otherwise have known. And that’s how Malaysia Crime was created.

3. Have any other crime watch sites inspired you?

ChicagoCrime.org created by Adrian Holovaty. This website has since been incorporated into EveryBlock.

4. What kind of service does MC provide to the community?

Show the community what are the crimes around and near them.

5. In what way do you see MC as being useful to Malaysians?

To know crimes around them that they otherwise would not have known. And from here, a lot of other benefits can be derived depending on how the person internalizes and uses the information.

6. What do you hope to achieve with MC?

Immediately. For people to realized the urgency of the crime situation in our country.

Ultimately. Safety for us and our families.

7. Describe MC in three words.

Maybe a motto instead? And in 10 words

“Police fight crimes with guns. People fight crime with information.”

8. Are there any changes you might make to MC in the future?

I am working with a group of social entrepreneurs at Unreason.my. We are working with a government agency to get anonymized crime data from the Police. I believe equipping Malaysia Crime with quality information will help users even more. These are the changes I am looking forward to.

9. How many hits/users has MC attracted so far, and how many followers are you hoping for in the future?

Malaysia Crime attracted about 2,000 4,500 users so far.

10. What sort of response would you like to see from the Malaysian public?

I hope that people will feel the urgency regarding the crime situation in our country. And hence, seriously take steps to prevent and fight crime in whatever means that are available to them.

Migrated to WordPress

Kegan Gan — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 05:16:58 +0000

Malaysia Crime Blog is now migrated to WordPress.

This particular installation running on Subversion tag 2.8.4 and is hosted at WebFaction.

The Unreasonable People

Kegan Gan — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 03:27:28 +0000

“The reasonable man adapt himself to the world. The unreasonable man try adapt the world to himself. Hence, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” ~ George Bernard Shaw

Sometime in early May 2009, a few people started a group called Unreason. The purpose of Unreason funds ideas that solve problems in Malaysia through crowd sourcing. Malaysia Crime is one of the first three projects to be involved.

Fast forward two months to today. Malaysia Crime has gained a lot of traction. We have reached our funding goal through Unreason for our the next version Malaysia Crime. Probably the most exciting thing is that, we are in talks with MDeC to push for open data adoption in the government. We have gone through our first round of presentation and will be doing our second session sometime this week.

Wish us luck!

The Crime that Started the Fire

Kegan Gan — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 02:34:40 +0000

In a late night of March 2009, a person was mugged in Petaling Jaya. Four men in two motorcycles attacked him. This person lost a finger that night. His finger detached from his hand.

This is no ordinary incident. This person took pictures of his yet-to-be bandaged four-fingers hand, and post it on Facebook. And he is someone I know. This is almost like war. They come, they hurt you, and they take your things. As if there is not any law in this country.

It dawned on me when I saw that picture of the hand with four fingers. Crimes are no longer some snippets we read in newspaper, happened to faceless people in unknown locations. Crimes are real incidents happening to familiar people near our homes. One day it WILL happen to us and our families.

Unless we do something about it. But how?

Police fight crimes with guns. We will fight crime with information. This is what Malaysia Crime is all about.

Armed people with enough information about where, when, and what are the crimes … and they will come together to prevent future crimes. Businesses will chip in because there is money to be made. Government agencies will align themselves because it’s so much easier to work together. And the public will have a united stand against crimes because of the awareness.

When there is enough information and economic incentives, … the problem solve itself.